260 people sign petition to cancel Mise Éire festival in Drumshanbo, says LARAF

260 people have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of the Mise Éire festival, which is scheduled to take place in Drumshanbo this August, according to Leitrim and Roscommon Against Fascism (LARAF).

The event, set for the Mayflower Community Centre on August 23rd, is billed as a music and folk festival for “those who cherish Irish culture, heritage, and are united in celebrating our shared values.” However, it has received criticism due to the views of some of the scheduled speakers.

LARAF also took to the high street in Drumshanbo last Thursday to collect signatures for the petition.

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“We feel the committee are perfectly within their rights to cancel the event. Every signature on the petition came from a conversation in Drumshanbo—and it is quite clear as a result that they would have community support for doing so,” said organisers, who gathered signatures on paper over nine hours on the town’s main street.

Sean Wynne, chairman of the Mayflower committee, has stated that the board will stick to its decision to allow the festival to proceed.

“This is just a question of making life difficult and a process to see would we collapse. And I make no mistake about it - in the next, whatever, it's a month now from now, every effort will be made and every hand grenade in a verbal sense and in a media sense will be used,” said Wynne, who previously managed the European Parliament campaign for John Waters, a scheduled speaker at the event.

Though he said he is not familiar with all the speakers expected to attend, Wynne insists the event should go ahead on the grounds of free speech and is critical of the online discourse surrounding the festival and its organisers.

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A protest in Cork City, organised by the group Cork Says No and initially scheduled for the same day as the Mise Éire festival, was postponed to avoid clashing with the event, according to its organisers.

LARAF has described the festival as a national gathering of the far-right, citing public endorsements from figures such as Ferg Power, who was named in the Dáil as a key figure in the 2023 Dublin city riots.