Tipperary Pride family fun day hit with possible hoax and vandalism

The organiser of Tipperary Pride, Evelyn Roberts, has said Pride parade decorations were vandalised in Thurles.

Ms Roberts said the Pride committee had permission to hang bunting and flags in Thurles town, and following the event, they were to be taken down.

When they went to retrieve them, 19 of the 20 flags were stolen, and the bunting had been torn down. Those decorations are still missing.

Ms Roberts says she has made the gardaí aware of the incident.

Tipperary Pride

Tipperary Pride began in 2019 and has been an annual event in Thurles since.

Ms Roberts said she started the event after organising a birthday party and was asked to look into a bigger event.
“I realised there was a huge space there for inclusion in Thurles and Tipperary,” said Ms Roberts.

The parade this year began at 2pm from Parnell Street car park. This year, the committee also organised a family fun day in Thurles Town Park from 2pm to 4pm.

The family event consisted of stalls, face painting, a bouncy castle, circus performers and a drag queen dressed like a fairy.

From 4pm, there was drag-e-oke at Skehan’s bar. From 8pm until late, an adult entertainment event was held at Mrs Crokes Bar.

Positive reception

According to Ms Roberts, despite some negative comments, feedback on the event was mostly positive.

“I suppose there were positive and negative but more positive than anything. Anyone who had brought kids was delighted that there was stuff for the kids to do,” said Ms Roberts.

“The event actually went down very well. We started out with our parade in the Parnell Street car park, and there was music, and we gathered there at 2 o’clock.
“ Leading the parade were Thurles Fire Brigade and Thurles Garda to bring us through the town.

“We got about 100 people in the parade, which was great, so we were very happy with that,” said Ms Roberts.

Allegations

Following Saturday’s event, allegations have been made against the organisers of Tipperary Pride, saying they distributed phallic-shaped lollipops to children at the playground.

The heavily edited screenshots have been circulated on social media along with accusations against both Tipperary Pride and Tipperary County Council.

The TipperaryLive was provided with videos and stills. However, due to inconsistencies in both the videos and stills, we are unable to verify their authenticity. None of the stills were suitable for reproduction.

The TipperaryLive spoke to Noreen O’Sullivan from Thurles, who provided us with the photographs (video stills) and made a complaint to Tipperary County Council.

Ms O’Sullivan says she did not take the photographs but received them from another individual in a Facebook Messenger group who does not wish to come forward.

Ms O’Sullivan says she went to the park the day of the event and took video to show families avoiding the event.

Ms O’Sullivan says she objected to the Pride event being held in the Thurles Town Park a number of weeks ago, but Tipperary County Council did not take her concerns seriously.

She said the people involved in Pride do not “have the same moral standards as parents.”

Ms O’Sullivan specifically objects to drag queens and night time entertainment.

“That’s not family-friendly. These groups have more rights than children and parents,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

She acknowledged that the evening entertainment was separate to the family fun day but said:

“They don’t just change their morals in the day.”

Tipperary County Council

The Tipperary Star contacted Tipperary County Council, Tipperary Pride and the Thurles gardaí .

Tipperary County Council says their role in the event was to approve the use of the site, which is maintained by the council.

They are aware of the accusations, but the organisers have assured them they are not responsible.
Pride Organisers

Evelyn Roberts told the TipperaryLive that under no circumstances did anyone associated with Tipperary Pride distribute phallic-shaped sweets to children.

“That’s just sick. Under no circumstances did we hand out anything derogatory.

“They were not handed out at Tipperary Pride under any circumstances,” said Ms Roberts.

She says the sweets they gave out were in rainbow bags and were generic shop-bought brands.
They were given out as prizes for a butterfly-themed treasure hunt.

Ms Roberts also said she did not see anyone else handing out inappropriate sweets.

However, Ms Roberts said that a colleague reported to her an incident where a woman approached them in the carpark and made accusations to those in attendance.

She also says they received online hate in the weeks before the event.

She said she received a message from someone in town following the event making her aware of the pictures being circulated online.

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Gardaí

Thurles gardai were present at the playground during the Pride event, having led the parade with the Thurles Fire Brigade.

They told the TipperaryLive that no reports had been made to them regarding inappropriate confectionery or the event itself.

They say they are aware of some messages sent to the organisers of the event, but no official reports have been made.

They believe the opposition to the event is the minority and did not themselves see any issues at the event.

As far as they are concerned, the event “went off without a hitch.”