Tens of thousands of people filled Dublin city’s streets on Saturday, June 27, for the 2026 Pride parade. The capital was awash with rainbow colours as the LGBTQ+ community gathered in celebration and protest under the theme ‘One Story – Many Voices’.

According to organisers, the theme reflects “the thread that connects us across time, across borders, across very different lived experiences. We share a story that shifts with the narrator, and while no single voice can represent us all, every voice counts.”

The parade kicked off on O’Connell Street shortly after 12:30pm, travelling down Eden and Custom House Quay, before crossing Talbot Memorial Bridge to the south side of the Liffey. From there, it moved up City Quay and turned right onto Lombard Street, passing through Westland Row and Lincoln Place and finally concluding at Merrion Square, where the Pride Village awaited.

The Grand Marshal for 2026 was author and activist Philippa Ryder. Across the past two decades, she has worked tirelessly to advance LGBTQ+ rights, serving as Chair and a board member of Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride, and a board member of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris were also among those in attendance, with the former describing it as a “wonderfully joyous day”.

An array of local community organisations participated in the 2026 Dublin Pride parade, including GCN, the National LGBTQ+ Federation (NXF), Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre, and many more. The largest cohort came from Belong To, made up of over 600 people aged between 14 and 23. In his first year as the charity’s Chief Executive, Kieran O’Donovan said seeing so many LGBTQ+ youth marching through Dublin filled him with “immense pride”.

“For many of us, we remember what it felt like to be younger, the isolation, the fear,” he said. “Today is a reminder that no young person should have to navigate this world alone.”

Another notable group in the march was Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin, who held a “political funeral” inspired by the protest actions of ACT UP during the AIDS crisis. Participants wore black and grey and held gravestone-shaped placards condemning the state of trans healthcare in Ireland. The organisation’s main banner read “Death to the NGS (National Gender Service) or death to us”.

The parade is a highlight of the annual Dublin Pride festival, which this year ran from June 24 to 28.

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*GCN is a trading name of National LGBT Federation CLG, a registered charity – Charity Number: 20034580.