FÁILTE IRELAND HAS confirmed that Dublin’s New Year’s Festival (NYF) will not go ahead this year.

More than 100,000 people attended the three-day event last year, with 80,000 attendees at the iconic firework display on New Year’s Eve alone.

However, significant crowds like this are not permitted under the government’s Living with Covid framework.

The number of attendees is capped at 200 for organised outdoor events at Level 1 - or up to 500 in venues with a capacity of more than 5,000 – becoming progressively more restrictive under subsequent levels.

“Given these numbers it is clear that the event would not fall within current Government and public health guidance and it would not be appropriate to encourage people to congregate in these numbers,” Fáilte Ireland said in a statement.

Ireland’s tourism and hospitality sector has suffered significantly as a result of Covid-19, with Dublin in particular facing incredibly difficult challenges in recent weeks.

Fáilte Ireland’s focus is now on working with Government, industry bodies and tourism businesses on the ground to support them to survive and recover in the months ahead.

The organisation highlighted a Destination Recovery Taskforce formed in Dublin aimed at ensuring a co-ordinated response to the current crisis.

Health officials have previously stressed that even if attendees can be socially distanced at an outdoor venue, significant mixing of households can occur before, during, and after outdoor gatherings.