Ireland is to use its annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations to promote “diversity” and drag queens, an official announcement has revealed.
Ireland’s progressive-leaning Arts Minister, Catherine Martin, declared on Monday alongside a number of drag queens that this year’s St Patrick’s Day festival in Ireland will be about celebrating “diversity” and “inclusivity”.
She also took the opportunity to denounce the growing anti-mass migration protests taking place across the country, with many Irish people taking to the streets over their government’s open borders approach towards the current migrant crisis.
According to a report by the Irish Independent, the line-up for the festival was announced from Collins Barracks — a former British military instillation in the country’s capital of Dublin — with parts of the festival being set to focus on progressive and pro-LGBT entertainment, such as drag queens and cabaret performances.
The festival will even sport an LGBT-ified version of Ireland’s traditional form of folk dancing event — called a Céilí — which the festival claims will be the first of its kind.
“Championing the idea that clubbing is culture – a vibrant and pivotal cultural expression – Cultúr Club spans 4 stages across the Festival Quarter site, playing host to some of Ireland’s finest DJs, drag queens, artists, cabaret talent and performers from across the LGBTQ+ community and traversing musical styles including pop, disco and electro to techno and beyond,” the official website for the festival reads.
“Cultúr Club will host the first ever LGBTQ+ Géilí (pronounced Gay-Lee) on the mainstage with the fabulous PJ Kirby (co-host of the smash hit podcast, I’m Grand Mam), ably assisted by an army of drag performers,” it adds.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Martin described the traditional religious holiday associated with Ireland’s patron saint as an opportunity to promote diversity.
“The theme ‘We Are One’ is about inclusivity and there’s no better time than St Patrick’s Day to have that welcoming message, that cead míle fáilte [Irish for ‘one hundred thousand welcomes’], that we are one as a people and to celebrate diversity too,” the minister is reported as saying.
However, Martin also expressed concern about the growing number of anti-mass migration protests taking place throughout Ireland, which have largely been sparked by the Irish government moving large numbers of migrants into areas, often without consulting or seeking the consent of locals.
Though talking heads in the island nation have tried to brand the demonstrations as being orchestrated by a shadowy “far right”, the protests have only gained steam over the last number of weeks, with many people now regularly taking to the streets to demand that the country end its open borders approach to the ongoing crisis.
“Protests like that are of course a concern,” the arts minister remarked, before claiming that they represent a “minority” view — something that is not supported by the wealth of polling data on the subject of mass immigration into Ireland, with an estimated 61 per cent worried about the number of migrants currently coming to the country.
There are also concerns as to whether Ireland will be able to handle the increased numbers of tourists it often sees around March, with many hotels in the city already being contracted to host migrants.