Ireland's oldest festival returns today.
The Puck Fair, famous for featuring a goat suspended in a cage above the town of Killorglin, County Kerry, runs until Saturday.
Following longstanding opposition from animal rights activists and widespread debate last summer, the organisers have agreed to display King Puck for just two hours this year rather than the full three days.
Last year, King Puck was taken down on the event's second day as the country experienced high temperatures.
Puck Fair Organisers say, "The welfare of the goat is of utmost importance to all involved in organising Puck Fair. We have strict protocols in place to ensure this, and they are overseen and checked by an independent veterinary surgeon."
But Gerry Boland, founder of the Animals Behind Closed Doors group, welcomes the decision but thinks the tradition should be dropped altogether.
" It would be, you know, petty and mean-minded of me to suggest that this wasn't progress. It's a massive move by the committee.
"They have obviously reflected on it, and they've decided that this more or less, this issue more or less took over the Puck Fair last year.
"They've obviously gauged the public mood that this wasn't just a bunch of animal rights activists causing a fuss. But I would have to say that I don't think they should be putting a goat up there in the first place."
But Independent TD for Kerry, Michael Healy-Rae, believes the tradition of displaying the goat should continue into the future.
" Hopefully, despite the naysayers and people who would rather see if it was abandoned and dropped and the people who are anti-everything.
"They're anti-Puck, they're anti-horseracing, they're anti-live exports.
"If they had their way, we'd all be inside in a dark room, looking out the window with sad eyes and sad faces with nowhere to go and nothing to do. But instead, we can all go to Puck today."
