THOSE who argue that Ireland should change the date of its national feast day to a warmer month of the year have been criticised by the Minister for Tourism.
"We own St Patrick's Day. We can't change it. It would be madness to even contemplate it," Mr Kenny said yesterday at the launch of the programme for the St Patrick's Day Festival in Dublin which runs from March 14th to 17th.
"Visitors do not come here for the weather. In fact, Ireland is number nine in the European sun locations but it is number one in the non-sun locations.
"People come here for the people the music, the culture, and that is, what we are selling. We cannot change St Patrick's Day, we can just make it better.
"March 17th is a good date for getting an early start to the tourist season and I want to make it an annual return date for the millions of Irish who are abroad," Mr Kenny said.
"We want to make it the foremost festival of its kind in the world by the year 2000," he said at the National Museum in Dublin where the details of the festival were announced.
More than 4,000 Irish and international performers, musicians, entertainers and sports people will be in Dublin for a weekend of festival entertainment which will have the annual parade as its centrepiece.
The festival will start on Friday 14th with the Guinness Temple Bar Fleadh and the Joaquin Cortes performance at The Point. The official opening will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday with a major fireworks display on the Liffey.
A highlight of the extensive street theatre on Saturday and on Sunday will be "Paddy's Big Day Out" when many groups will take part in sporting displays. These will include the Garda Motorcycle Display Team, roller-bladers, skateboarding and a mountain bike display.
Events on St Patrick's Day begin at 9 a.m. in Westmoreland Street with an international band competition. This will be followed by a 5 km road race over the parade route where events will be staged until the parade begins at noon.
The parade, which will start at St Patrick's Cathedral, will end at Parnell Square and feature specially commissioned theatrical pageants featuring professional and community groups.
At 2.30 p.m., following the parade, there will be what has been called "The Mother of All Ceilis" at St Stephen's Green, between Dawson Street and Kildare Street. The Kilfenora Ceili Band will provide the music and some 5,000 dancers are expected to take part.
Events during the evening will include matches at Croke Park and Tolka Park, while the Guinness Temple Bar Fleadh continues at its 22-venues.