SEVERAL St Patrick’s Day parades mocked the recent looting and destruction of a Lidl supermarket – sparking demands for an apology.

Pictures emerged from at least three parades over the weekend, featuring depictions of the Lidl raid at Fortunestown on February 28 during the worst of Storm Emma.

Lidl saw the humorous side of the floats and posted a poll on social media, asking its followers to rate the best one.

However, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South West John Lahart said the floats were “tasteless”.

“I think it just shows a complete lack of understanding and empathy for the good decent local people. What happened was not a reflection on the people of Tallaght,” he said.

Tallaght Sinn Féin councillor Louise Dunne said the floats were “discriminatory” and glorified the events of the night.

She told the Irish Independent that she was especially offended by a float containing the poster “the Tallaght thugs”.

She is working to identify whether any of the floats were supported by public funding, adding they fed into a negative stereotype of west Dublin.

“It’s not just me, there were pictures posted on social media with people from the area saying they did not find them funny. I’m absolutely disgusted that this was allowed to happen.”

Ms Dunne said one of the floats seemed to have been on show in Spiddal, Co Galway, while another was in Mayo.

“I will be looking for a public apology from the parades’ committees, if there were any, who allowed these to be shown.”

Earlier this month, nine men appeared in court charged in connection with the looting, which attracted widespread attention as much of the country was in lockdown due to the Status Red weather warning.

Online Editors