By Irish Echo Staff
Several of the major organizations affiliated to the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade are pressing the parties to the current dispute to settle their difference – this as a court hearing in the Bronx has been set for March 15, just two days before the march up Fifth Avenue.
Letters sent to Dr. John Lahey, chairman of the parade corporation’s board of directors, in recent days urge an amicable solution and out of court settlement to the legal standoff pitting Dr. Lahey and John Dunleavy, former chairman of the Parade and Celebration Committee.
One of the letters, from the president of the Grand Council of Emerald Societies, Frank O’Keefe, states that the ongoing litigation between the corporation and Mr. Dunleavy “unfortunately hangs like a dark cloud” over the parade.
States the letter in part: “At the parade meeting of December 1, John Tully, Chairman of the St Patrick's Day Parade and Celebration Committee, proposed that a mediator be appointed by the two parties to try and resolve this case, and get it out of the hands of the New York Legal System.
“This suggestion certainly appealed to the 100 or so delegates in the room at the time.”
Mr. O’Keefe wrote that at the December meeting of the Grand Council - which represents fifteen different groups - a motion was passed that he, in his capacity as president, contact the two parties involved and appeal for an out of court settlement.
“Many resources of time, talent and treasure have been spent on this case, resources that we feel could be put to better use,” Mr. O’Keefe wrote in his letter.
In addition to the correspondence from the Grand Council, letters from the Ancient Order of Hibernians Metro Conference and United Irish Counties have also been sent to Dr. Lahey urging a resolution between him and Mr. Dunleavy.
