BREAKING: NW Carnival Initiative pulls out of Derry's St Patrick's Day parade

The North West Carnival Initiative (NWCI) will not be delivering Derry’s St Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival parade this year, it has been confirmed.

The organisation has formally notified Derry City and Strabane District Council of its decision.

A spokesperson for NWCI told The Derry News the decision followed “formal notification from a number of artists they had withdrawn consent for the use of certain props, costumes and designs in the parade citing intellectual property rights”. 

“The Board determined proceeding with the use of those specific materials, following the formal withdrawal of consent, would not be appropriate,” added the spokesperson.

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The parade will feature participants from local schools, sports clubs, community organisations, bands and performance groups

“The Board acknowledges the artists’ position and does not wish to act in a manner contrary to their expressed wishes.

 “Given the limited timeframe to identify and implement alternative solutions, and in the context of current capacity constraints within the organisation, the Board concluded that it is not feasible for NWCI to proceed with delivery,” said the spokesperson.

 “NWCI has formally notified Derry City & Strabane District Council of this position and will work constructively with the Council to support alternative arrangements for the parade this year,” they added. 

A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council explained that the Council was now proactively working with its partners to deliver another successful St Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival.

"The North West Carnival Initiative, which has a Service Level Agreement with Council to act as the primary organisation responsible for the co-ordination and delivery of carnival arts productions at civic events such as the St Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival, has indicated to Council that it is unable to deliver on this year’s parade due to issues it is experiencing with some of its artists around the intellectual property of some of their creatives," said the Council spokesperson.  

"This will have no impact on the St Patrick’s Day celebrations as Council works to directly deliver the Spring Carnival and is looking forward to another successful event for the city," they added.

 The Council spokesperson also advised that it is currently not involved in any investigation or financial audit around these issues.