Mischief but no mayhem in O'Connell Street

Giving your parade the theme "Mischief, Mayhem and Madness" could be asking for trouble, but the Dublin St Patrick's Day parade had, for the most part, a smooth run.

There were one or two minor snags. The first hitch involved one of the Lord Mayor's horses which positively refused to be hitched to the mayoral carriage and delayed the start of the parade by five minutes.

The animal broke free from its bridle and bolted up Bolton Street, the staging area for the pageant, but was quickly reined in and persuaded to cart Lord Mayor Michael Conaghan to the main grandstand on O'Connell Street.

Cllr Conaghan (who is all for mischief and madness but hoped the mayhem caused by alcohol would be kept to a minimum) was joined on the terraces by his fellow councillors and a few famous faces, including singer Mary Coughlan and TV personality Mary Kennedy.

The only other troublemaker of note was the Luas. Having failed to persuade the Department of Transport to allow the cables running over O'Connell Street to be taken down, the organisers were forced to compromise a number of the most flamboyant floats.

So, while the parade was as long as ever, this year it was also shorter. Four of the 10 pageants were redesigned in recent days to bring them under the 5.5 metre height of the cables. The Waterford Spraoi group's float "Storm Warning" came within inches of touching the wires (the power had been switched off to prevent electrocution).

Two floats were reduced from heights of almost 12 metres, while other inflatable displays were temporarily deflated as they crossed the line, which more than one spectator said, "was a bit of a let down".

Chief executive of the St Patrick's Festival Donal Shiels said it was his only disappointment with this year's parade.

"We were only asking for one section of line to be taken down. It wouldn't have caused that much trouble and we weren't trying to put anyone out. It's almost a form of censorship. It's also a bit of a farce, having to limbo under the line."

There was however much voluntary limbo dancing going on.

Some 600 transition year students from the Brighter Futures Project danced and cycled their way through "The Nutterfly Effect" dressed as butterflies, fish and mad scientists.

And there was the group of 30 dancers and 30 percussionists controlling giant helium amoebas took part in the "Tricksters" pageant from the Sligo-based arts company West Coast Carnival Co-Op.

Blow in Productions, from Clare, provided an 11-metre high inflatable phoenix (which shrank to three metres at the Luas junction) complete with theatrical flames and smoke.

Hot air also played a big part in Wexford's Buí Bolg pageant based "loosely" on that Irish institution, the agricultural show, complete with a Friesian coloured giant inflatable doughnut.

Tradition was not forgotten however and all the stalwarts were there including Dracula, Charlie Chaplin and, somewhere at the back, St Patrick himself.