The announcement was made this afternoon.

The St Patrick’s Festival organisers have announced that events due to take place in Dublin as part of the Festival Cultural Programme have now been cancelled. The National Concert Hall also confirmed that all of its events would be cancelled up until March 29. These include planned performances by Lisa Hannigan and Mary Black as part of the Festival programme. The Festival had already announced the cancellation of the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, as well as the Port to City Treasure Hunt, and Ceilí Mór on Merrion Square, but it had been expected that the hundreds of small-to-medium events planned would still go ahead. These included gigs, exhibitions and cultural displays. In the wake of the Government's announcement of additional measures to tackle the spread of Coronavirus – including the closure of schools, childcare facilities and colleges – these have now been cancelled. A statement released by the festival organisers said:

"We have taken this decision in line with the wider actions being taken in response to the constantly changing nature of the global health crisis. We are acting in the best interests of public health and safety and in an effort to play our part in the nationwide efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. While extremely disappointing, our paramount commitment is to the wellbeing of our artists and participants, our audiences and communities and our own Festival team."

While the cancellations cover the events that are run by the in-house Festival team, some events that are due to be run by external partners may yet go ahead, the statement said.

"While the Festival’s own events are being cancelled, other events that appear in the programme may still be proceeding and we support the individual decisions of all our partners regarding their own events." One such partner is the National Concert Hall, which confirmed that it will close from 6pm this evening until April 1. A statement from the NCH said: "All events scheduled to take place during this time are now cancelled. Customers will be refunded in due course. All offsite events will also be cancelled. "The health and wellbeing of our customers, musicians and staff is of paramount importance to the National Concert Hall."

Further details on the event cancellations can be found on the St Patrick's Festival and National Concert Hall websites.