The Gathering Ireland 2013, a year-long celebration of all things Irish, will kick off in style with the NYE Dublin Festival on the 31st of December 2012 and the 1st of January 2013. Developed by Fáilte Ireland, The Gathering Ireland 2013 is a year-long celebration of Irishness, where communities throughout Ireland will showcase and share the very best of Irish culture. A programme of events, festivals and gatherings will take place throughout the country in 2013 and people from around the world will come together to celebrate all that’s great about Ireland.

To date almost 1,200 official Gatherings have been registered on the Gathering Ireland 2013 website.

Fáilte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn emphasised:

“This New Year’s Eve, we will officially fire the starting gun for The Gathering 2013 with a bang – and lots of colour, fireworks and festivity. Next year is our year and hopefully the global spotlight which traditionally marks year-end in cities such as London and New York will shine a bit brighter on Dublin as we kick-start 12 months of non-stop activity and set a marker for the year ahead.”

The NYE Dublin Festival was initiated in 2011 by Fáilte Ireland, in partnership with Dublin City Council and Davis Events Ltd to:

Develop a spectacular new festival to facilitate the overseas promotion of Dublin
Attract additional visitors to Dublin
Animate the city centre and improving the experience of those visitors who have travelled to the Dublin around New Year’s Eve.

What’s happening on New Year’s Eve?
On New Year’s Eve, the streets of the city will be taken over by a stunning torch-lit procession featuring floats, torch bearers, fire breathers, stilt walkers and dancers.  The Gathering Ireland provides the theme for the procession, titled The Journey Home, and people of all ages, from home and abroad - particularly those who have returned home for Christmas and the New Year - are invited to participate, with candles, lanterns or torches, following the brilliant procession through Dublin’s streets broad and narrow.

The procession will culminate at the iconic St. Stephen’s Green, where a magnificent fireworks display will light up the city skyline. The highlight of the night will be a spectacular open air countdown concert in College Green.

2011 Success

Last year, almost 10,000 people attended the spectacular NYE Countdown concert featuring The Coronas, Paul Brady, Riverdance and Bressie in College Green. 41% of attendees at the NYE concert were overseas visitors
Across the three days, a total of 18,800 attended events as part of the festival
Significant media coverage was achieved with an AVE of €547,313.