

Europe’s oldest matchmaking event is going pink this year, with a new gay and lesbian weekend taking place at the start of the traditional Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.

The new festival, which has been christened the Outing, is the brainchild of local hotelier Marcus White, who has enlisted Dublin Pride Festival organiser Eddie McGuinness to manage the event.

The pair hope to grow the Outing into the world’s largest gay and lesbian singles event over the next five years.

“At the end of the day it’s about love – that’s what the matchmaking festival has always been about. Ireland is leading the world on a lot of gay issues and hopefully we will have gay marriage soon, so the time is right for something like this to take place,” said Mr McGuinness.



International ambition

“Nothing on this scale has ever been done anywhere else in the world. We are taking matchmaking into the 21st century. We have a five-year plan for this event. This year we are looking at attracting people from Ireland and the UK but this is going to become a very big international event.”

The Outing will run from August 30th to September 1st – the opening weekend of the month-long Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.