Lisdoonvarna is going pink this year - with a new gay matchmaking event kicking off the festival.

Organisers hope the event - dubbed The Outing - will attract lesbian and gay singles from all around the world.

The original Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking festival is Europe's oldest, and sees the Burren village hosting a month-long celebration of love and happiness, including dancing, horse-racing and of course matchmaking.

But this year, in a new twist on old traditions, the 150-year-old festival will feature a three day gay event from Friday August 30th to Sunday September 1st - organisers are calling it an historic first Lesbian and Gay weekend.

Hotelier Marcus White is one of the organisers of the festival, and of The Outing:

They're promising live performances, trips & activities and all of it to be hosted by drag queen Panti, an institution on the Dublin gay scene.

The town's website describes matchmaking as an old tradition, something locals indulge in once 'the hay (is) saved and the turf (is) home'.

But, the ancient tradition has been in decline and today there is just one official Matchmaker left in Co. Clare, Willie Daly, who lives in Ennistymon. It might have been with an eye to visitor numbers then that organisers turned their attention to the gay community.

The festival attracts 40,000 visitors, and it's an important tourist attraction for the town, but in recent years, it's fallen out of fashion.

A now-defunct music festival used to place near the town, which was famously immortalised in song by Christy Moore.

The event came to an end in 1983, when the last event was marred by a riot and the accidental drowning of eight people.

For more information, go to http://www.theouting.ie/