Full coverage: festivals

Concert promoters behind Total Country, Rockathon and the Rory Gallagher tribute festival say they are owed nearly €600,000 from ticket sales. They claim to be suspicious of the timing of the collapse of Tickets.ie and are “extremely anxious to ensure that their money is safeguarded”.

What began as a quiet cultural experiment in a small Carlow village has grown in step with Ireland’s literary renaissance. Hugo Jellett, the co-founder of the Festival of Writing & Ideas, reflects on timing, trust, and the magic of doing things differently.

It has been a year and a half since large live music events were allowed to take place. After a week when the live entertainment industry's pleas were ignored by government again, there is a restlessness from those working in it.