Dublin’s New Year’s Eve Festival Has Been Officially Cancelled This Year

Image – Gareth Chaney Collins

Last year, thousands flocked to watch the annual New Year’s Eve countdown in Dublin city centre; but this year, as we welcome 2021, the streets of Dublin will look a lot different as the annual festival has been called off amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

Making the decision to officially cancel the three day festival which saw over 80,000 revellers enjoy live music and fireworks last year, Failte Ireland revealed that this year’s decision was made in conjunction with Dublin City Council in light of the Government’s Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 plan.

Acknowledging the hit to the tourism sector, a spokesperson for Failte Ireland spoke to the Irish Sun, noting that Ireland and Dublin in particular over the past three weeks has “suffered significantly” in the hospitality and tourism sector due to Covid-19.

But, understanding that a decision on the New Year’s festivities had to be made, they added:

“It is clear that the event would not fall within current Government and public health guidance and it would not be appropriate to encourage people to congregate in these numbers”.

For now, they added that their efforts are with working with the Government to help those “on the ground” working in tourism to survive and recover in the months ahead.

• NYE