COVID-19 pandemic brings a halt to the long running Wren Day celebrations in Dingle.
For the first time in living memory, the Wren Day gathering in Dingle, County Kerry, on 26 December, has been cancelled.
Plans had been made to host a scaled back, COVID-19-compliant event, but the rise in the number of cases in recent days has led organisers to cancel the event entirely.
The tradition itself has pre-Christian roots and neither world wars, the famine, or indeed the War of Independence managed to curtail this Celtic celebration.
Dr Aoife Granville of the Sráid Eoin Wren explained that the celebration is an unbroken tradition that Dingle is particularly proud of.
There are four main Wrens in Dingle: the Green & Gold, Sráid Eoin, Goat's Street and the Quay.
Vincent Manning of the Goat Street Wren explains that due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, plans for scaled-back celebrations have now been completely abandoned. The cancellation is bad news for local charities. The event in Dingle usually raises around €10,000.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 23 December 2020. The reporter is Marian O'Flaherty.
