Match Made in Ireland
Words | Olivia Gordon This September, thousands of singletons will head to Ireland’s small town of Lisdoonvarna to see if a bit of old-fashioned matchmaking can change their lives IN THIS ERA of Facebook flirting, it seems there’s still plenty of room for an old-fashioned approach, as September marks the start of another Matchmaker Ireland, [...]
Words | Olivia Gordon
This September, thousands of singletons will head to
Ireland’s small town of Lisdoonvarna to see if a bit of
old-fashioned matchmaking can change their lives
IN THIS ERA of Facebook flirting, it seems there’s
still plenty of room for an old-fashioned
approach, as September marks the start of
another Matchmaker Ireland, Europe’s biggest
matchmaking festival. Held in the romantic
country town of Lisdoonvarna, County Clare (just
a few hours’ drive from Dublin), the location is probably as
much a pull as the event itself.
The six-week festival of round-the-clock dancing, horseracing
and matchmaking has been running for 150 years. And if
you think there’s only going to be a limited pool to choose
from, think again. Up to 20,000 people are looking for love here
at any one festival so if you want to bag an Irish charmer, this
is the place – 70% of love-seekers are Irish – but singles come
from all over the world. The festival takes place across seven
different venues, the hub being the appropriately named
Matchmaker Bar, which is attached to the Imperial Hotel
[Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, +353 (0)65 707 4042].
The area around Lisdoonvarna in the south-west of Ireland
is all picturesque rugged cliffs and lush green fields and there’s
a long tradition of setting up blind dates here. Traditionally,
matchmakers were known as ‘tanglers’ – they were traders
who introduced the gentry after harvest-time. Today’s festival
continues that authentic Irish matchmaking tradition, explains
Matchmaker Ireland’s director Marcus White.
alt="Willie Daly has amassed countless success stories as a professional Cupid">
“With mobile phones and the internet, dating has become
impersonal. But that’s not the case here. A lot of people come
back to us and tell us ‘We met here three years ago and we got
married last year.’”
He believes the matchmaking introductions give people a
better shot at happiness than your average online hook-up. The
reason? “Because it’s all real. You meet a real person in the
flesh. If you have a little love and intention, things work.”
According to the festival staff, there was even one couple a
few years back, an American woman and Irish man, who met
and got engaged all in the course a single day at the festival.
He proposed, albeit in jest, as an opening chat-up line. She
called his bluff and accepted his proposal, and although they
laughed it off at the time, what is funnier is that they did end
up married to each other with two children. It was just one of
the meetings engineered by Lisdoonvarna’s resident cupid, the
white-bearded, 62-year-old Willie Daly. Not your average
dating buddy, he’s a figure of local folklore as a horse whisperer
and storyteller, as well as a third-generation full-time
matchmaker. He has lived in the area all his life, made his first
match at 15 and has been matching people at the festival for
over 40 years. He is assisted by his children, particularly his
daughter Marie, 29, who is his apprentice. When they’re not
helping people fall in love, they spend the rest of the year
running a family horse riding business.
aLT="Men outnumber the women at the festival, but the idea still seems to work, as many couples happily confirm">
The cost of a match is around €10-40 (it’s cheaper for
women, because they are so sought after – there are 17 men
to every woman at the festival so it’s the opposite to the
dating scene in London and New York, for instance). People fill
in a simple form, and then chat for half an hour with Daly
about the kind of person they would like to meet.
As Daly explains in his soft lilt: “I then introduce them to
each other, and there’s such a great atmosphere, they more or
less go dancing straight away.” If you don’t hit it off, you can go
back to Daly for another match.
Whereas Ireland’s matchmaking tradition was originally all
about matching couples financially and finding women
husbands to provide for them, today it’s egalitarian and all
about romance, Daly says. “There has to be love and a bit of
magic involved in the match. When I meet people I know very
quickly who they would be attracted to,” he claims.
He sees people from 18 to 80, but mainly aged from 37-52.
“The biggest barrier to love is fear – especially once people get
past 35, they’re afraid of the unknown,” he muses. “I would
suggest to people to be open-minded to who may come along.
Life is awfully short, but there is happiness for everybody.”
Matchmaker Ireland (www.matchmakerireland.com) runs
from 29 August to 5 October. Willie Daly is available yearround
as a matchmaker, charging around €40, and can be
contacted by email (williedaly@yahoo.ie).
