Lord Mayor of Dublin and Green Party Councillor Caroline Conroy has told tonight’s meeting of Dublin City Council that there will be a crib at the Mansion House this Christmas but it will not include live animals.
She told councillors the current offering of the live crib featuring farm animals that has been running since the 1990s was a little underwhelming for people and she wanted a better experience with play and fun at its centre.
Speaking tonight, Ms Conroy said that alongside the crib there will be a Christmas sleigh, a post box, children’s choirs and dance groups.
Lord Mayor of Dublin @caroline1conroy tells @dublincitycouncil there will be a crib at the Mansion Hse but no live animals #rtenews #liveanimalcrib pic.twitter.com/9dlSokcf1T
— Joe Mag Raollaigh (@joemagraollaigh) November 7, 2022
She said another Lord Mayor can bring the farm animals back but she wants to try something different. It is not a culture war, she said, but an attempt to do things better.
She explained that what she is aiming to do is make the experience better this Christmas and that it’s exciting that it will be more than just a crib this year.
She also said it was unfortunate how her plan was reported to the media by a member of a council committee before her office had contacted the IFA or the DSPCA. She also said there was erroneous reporting of her plan in traditional and social media.
Earlier she had rejected an emergency motion calling for the reversal of her decision on the live animal crib that Fine Gael had wanted tabled for tonight’s meeting.
Responding, Fine Gael Councillor James Geoghegan said it was unfortunate the Lord Mayor attacked the reporting of the plan and attacked Fine Gael for raising the matter.
He said the public reaction to the plan to remove the live animals from the crib is what had driven the controversy and not anything else.
He also said the Lord Mayor had not mentioned animal welfare as being her motivation in previous media interviews in which she took part, and had praised the IFA and the DSPCA for the care of the live animals welfare.
He added that Fine Gael wishes her well with her proposals for Christmas but it was wrong to use the event for a political purpose to remove live animals when there was no evidence of any animal welfare issues.
The live crib was an annual Christmas fixture at the venue since 1995, when it was first introduced by the Irish Farmers’ Association.
The decision to stop this years crib has been supported by some colleagues of Lord Mayor Conroy on the council, but other cllrs have strongly opposed it.
The Lord Mayor said she was disappointed her initiative which intended to improve the experience of families visiting the Mansion House this year, was the subject of opportunist political attack by Fine Gael.
She added that she does not believe that animals need to be used to create a better Christmas experience and while the farm animals in the crib were well looked after, she did not believe a busy and noisy city centre is the right location for them.
Tonight it is unclear if the live animal crib will go ahead at another location. Minister of State at the OPW Patrick O’ Donovan has previously said the OPW could host it on one of their sites in the city such as St Stephens Green or in Dublin Castle.
The current Mayor of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Cllr Mary Hanafin also offered to host it, as has the Dean of Christchurch Cathedral Dermot Dunne who said it would fit in nicely.
The IFA said in a statement that it was disappointed the live animal crib will not go ahead at the Mansion House this year.
“Given the very strong support for the live animal crib, it is disappointing that it won’t be going ahead at the Mansion House this year.”
It also said the Lord Mayor has yet to meet with the IFA to discuss the issue.
“We are also disappointed that the Lord Mayor has yet to meet IFA on the issue. We will consider our options over the coming days.”
Mayor: Mansion House will have crib but no live animals
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