A digger was used to rip an ATM from the wall of the Bank of Ireland in Kingscourt, Co Cavan earlier this month

A FLOAT depicting an ATM theft has taken part in a St Patrick's Day parade in Cavan.

The display, which included a mini-digger ripping an ATM machine from the wall of a bank, raised a smile with hundreds of people who turned out for the town’s St Patrick’s Day parade.

The procession took place a week after a digger was used to scoop a cash machine from a Bank of Ireland branch at Main Street in Kingcourt, Co Cavan, in the early hours of March 10.

It was placed on the back of a four wheel drive vehicle before being driven in the direction of Carrickmacross.

There has been a spate of similar robberies across the north in recent weeks, with the culprits using stolen diggers to remove the machines from shop fronts often resulting in serious damage to the buildings.

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There was controversy last year after the looting of a Lidl store in Dublin was also depicted in several St Patrick’s Day parades.

Several floats, which featured models of Lidl stores and mini-diggers, recreated the damage caused to the supermarket when robbers took advantage of a blizzard during Storm Emma to use a digger to smash through the roof of the building and a steal a safe.