Ireland

'Lidl looting' floats in St Patrick's Day parades

Images of the floats were posted on social media. Picture by Lidl Ireland/ Facebook
Images of the floats were posted on social media. Picture by Lidl Ireland/ Facebook Images of the floats were posted on social media. Picture by Lidl Ireland/ Facebook

THE looting of a Lidl store in Dublin during recent snow storms was depicted in several St Patrick's Day parades.

Floats featured models of Lidl stores and mini-diggers, recalling the serious damage caused to a supermarket in Tallaght earlier this month.

A float in Spiddal in Co Galway even showed some gardaí attempting to arrest the looters, while a similar float was spotted in Mayo.

The Lidl store in Tallaght was burgled and suffered serious damage when looters took advantage of a blizzard during Storm Emma on March 2.

A digger was used to smash through the roof of the building and a steel safe removed.

The Republic's Defence Forces had to be brought in to help gardaí due to the atrocious conditions.

Lidl saw the humorous side of the floats on Saturday and even posted a poll on social media asking followers to rate the best one.

However, the depictions of the looting were criticised by some on social media, with many saying it was in "bad taste".

"That's really nasty and sad," said one.

"What next a float of someone's house or car being robbed."

Lidl said last week it would rebuild the store at Fortunestown Lane following an assessment of the damage by engineers and consultants.

Earlier this month, nine men appeared in court charged in connection with the damage.