Hoped To Be The Biggest In The WORLD: Clare Matchmaking Festival To Host Gay And Lesbian Singles Weekend

Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, Europe's oldest festival of its kind, is launching with a difference this year. 

The event will begin with a new gay and lesbian weekend taking place at the beginning of the month-long festival, Irish Times reports.

Local hotelier Marcus White came up with the idea and Dublin Pride Festival organiser Eddie McGuinness is involved in the weekend's planning too.

The pair are thinking big and hope to have The Outing, as it'll be called, become the world's biggest gay and lesbian singles event over the next five years.

It will run between August 30th and September 1st this year.

“At the end of the day it’s about love, that’s what the matchmaking festival has always been about" Mr McGuinness told the Irish Times. 

"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. 

“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.”

Cover Pic: flickr