Singer seeking a match in Lisdoonvarna

AFTER her public endorsement of the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival on The Late Late Show, it has been confirmed that Sinead O’Connor will be in the Spa Town this weekend.

Renowned matchmaker, Willie Daly has said he will meet with Ms O’Connor in the hope of helping her with her much publicised search for a man. The Nothing Compares to You singer will arrive in North Clare on Friday night and is expected to stay until Monday.
“She is quite enthusiastic about meeting a farmer. It is a farmer she wants to meet. I think she feels that a farmer is a very earthy kind of a person and they are down to earth and are nice people and I think she is at the point where she wants to meet a very nice person,” explained Mr Daly.
While the matchmaker admitted being unfamiliar with Ms O’Connor and her music, he said he felt she had a good chance of finding love at the festival.
“I would feel that a lot of people would be attracted to her because people are often attracted to people who have a lot of success or power. She is probably a good singer too. I think last weekend there were people wondering was she in Lisdoonvarna already but it is obviously this weekend she is coming for,” he outlined.
Having spoken to Ms O’Connor about her expectations, Mr Daly revealed, “She knows what she is looking for. She is looking for someone who is mature but I think the main thing she is looking for is love, like a lot of women but that can be quite evasive.”
He added he did not think men would be intimidated by the performer’s public persona because “after 1am or 1.30am, all the men’s shyness goes out the window”.
Marcus White, director of White Hotel Group, which owns the Hydro Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, believes the talented singer’s endorsement of the festival on The Late Late Show will have a very positive impact on the numbers attending.
“You cannot pay for that kind of publicity so it certainly is positive. There have been a lot of enquiries from people wanting to come to the festival, not necessarily to see her but to come to the festival. So it is drawing people here. I was in Kerry on Tuesday and a load of people have come up to me asking is Sinead O’Connor coming to Lisdoonvarna so it has helped the profile of the festival, no question of that. Everyone is talking about it now, from Donegal to Kerry to Cork,” Mr White outlined.
Another thing affecting the crowds at the festival this year is the recession, Mr White believes, but not in the way one might think.
“The other thing I see this year personally is that there has been a lot of depression in Ireland with the banks and so on and I think people want to get away from it all. Those middle-aged people anyway come to Lisdoonvarna and forget their worries. People at the end of the day want to be happy in life and it is one way of getting away from it really to come down here,” he said.
According to Mr White, people coming to the festival are prepared for the sometimes forward nature of advances made in the search for love.
“Psychologically, people who come here are prepared for what will happen. It is the matchmaking festival so people know what they are coming down for, so that makes it easier to meet people. The chat up line the farmers sometimes use is ‘will you marry me?’ Where would you get that in Ireland? Some places a woman would hit you in the face if you said that to them but here it is a bit of craic and people enjoy it. It is all a harmless bit of fun and people just want to be happy and smile and it is really a great place to go to enjoy yourself,” Mr White concluded.