With the countdown to one of the major days of the Irish calendar, St Patricks Day and with it the resulting celebrations for the St Patricks festival and people parade in Dublin already begun, its grand Marshall for 2013 has been named as Nicky Byrne, Westlife singer and son-in-law to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The grand Marshall is the figurehead of the capitals St Patricks Day Festival and will lead the world famous parade through the streets of Dublin. The title of grand Marshall is given every year to a major figure in Irish life and culture and past recipients include Katie Taylor, John Giles, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Ronnie Drew.
This year’s festival and parade is a major part of The Irish Gathering 2013 festival and looks set to be even more spectacular and more memorable, being one of the events to watch in 2013. Re-billed this year as the People’s Parade it is hoped that over 8000 people invited from around the world will come to march and participate.
The significance of this year’s parade is not lost on the former Westlife singer and father of two, Nicky Byrne, who is honored to be playing such a huge part in this festival, recently vowed audiences with an appearance on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and who will also be hosting the Parades highlights programme (shown on 18th March). It is fitting for a singer who has toured the world with Westlife, playing to packed audiences in venues around the world, to stay at home and vacation in Ireland to lead the parade in the year of our homecoming, the Irish Gathering.