Over 100 leprechauns are set to abseil 170 ft down the Crowne Plaza hotel in Dundalk on Thursday 17th March 2011. The abseil, which is in aid of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for Sick Children and local charities will take place between 10.00am - 5.00pm on St. Patrick's Day.

The abseiling event is being organised in conjunction with The National Leprechaun Hunt that takes place 10 days later on Sunday March 27th on Slieve Foy Mountain Carlingford Co Louth. Thousands will descend on the mountain to hunt for leprechauns .  Prospecting licences will be available at €5.00 and there is a cash prize for every one found. However, people are not allowed to capture any real leprechauns.

The fun abseil is already attracting attention.  Mooney Goes Wild will feature the event on the show over the coming weeks with 5 abseils to give away. 

‘The Louth County Tourism & Heritage Forum has been set up to address the profile of Louth and this obviously includes Dundalk.   We intend to promote this county as a fun place to visit where there’s always something different happening.  The media love to cover wacky fun events like this and we are confident that this event will receive very positive, national publicity.  This is aimed at building a positive profile for Dundalk and it is important that the traders to support the activity.  We are encouraging business’ to support our objectives and purchase one abseil to represent their business on top of the Crowne Plaza on Paddy’s Day’ Frances Taylor Chairperson - Louth Tourism & Heritage Innovative Committee.

Carlingford launched its first National Leprechaun Hunt in the village in 1989 and reintroduced it in 2010, twenty years later to celebrate its designation as a Special Protection Area for Little People under the EU European Habitats Directive. This means that County Louth is the only officially recognised area of the existence of leprechauns in Ireland.

‘We secured overwhelming national and international media coverage for the Leprechaun Hunt last year and we are delighted to include Dundalk in this year’s pre event activities.  People love leprechauns and still believe in them.  They are just too embarrassed to admit it for some reason’ said Kevin Woods, event coordinator.