For the second year in a row, the Doolin Folk Festival has been cancelled.
Organisers of the festival said the decision not to proceed was based on public safety and comes at a cost of €1.5m to the local economy. They outlined that the announcement was made “with a heavy heart and much frustration due to ongoing uncertainty around live music events”.
Earlier this year, the Festival was deferred from its usual date in June to September with the hope that restrictions would have eased to allow for it to be held.
Lack of clarity from the Government was criticised by organisers. “The government have promised a roadmap by the end of August but we have no idea of what will be in it and unfortunately we have to make a call on it. As it stands we are allowed to have 200 people seated outdoors. We cannot run the Doolin Folk Festival under these restrictions. It just wouldn’t be the Doolin Folk Festival that everybody knows and loves. We would rather wait until restrictions are gone and do it properly at a time when each one of us can dance and singalong and hug a stranger with abandon. We live in hope that the Doolin Folk Festival will be back in June 2022”.
Donal Minihane of Hotel Doolin outlined that the announcement had to be made at this juncture to notify ticket holders, artists, crews and personnel involved. “There’s too much risk involved,” he said of the possibility of the Festival proceeding.
“It’s a huge amount of bed nights for the area. There would have been 1,200 tickets and it sells out every year. All of those people have to sleep somewhere, eat somewhere and have a few drinks somewhere. There’s a huge spread and it could be worth €1.5 million to the area over the weekend, so it’s a big loss. Also it’s a loss to local musicians, artists, staff, suppliers and crew. It’s a big loss”.
