This article is from page 10 of the 2007-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE Samaritans would be better off coming to Lisdoonvarna in October or November rather than during the month of September when there is no loneliness in the Spa town.
That’s the view of matchmaker, Willie Daly who was responding to the Samaritans’ initiative of hav- ing 20 Samaritan volunteers at Lis- doonvarna over the weekend to offer emotional support to those who are ‘unlucky in love’.
Billed as the largest singles event in Europe, the month-long Matchmak- ing Festival is in full swing, with dancing starting every day at llam and continuing deep into the night.
Samaritan volunteers kept a round- the-clock presence in the Square in the north Clare Spa town from Fri- day until 3am Sunday morning.
Explaining the initiative, Samaritan Festival Group Co-ordinator, Teresa Bell explained that some people who attend the festival may have high expectations of finding their match,
only to be left disappointed.
“Coming to the festival in the hope of finding a ‘match’ can often end in disappointment.
“Expectations can be high and if there are other emotional issues in a person’s life prior to coming to Lis- doon, then they can quickly resurface and change the mood very quickly.”
However, matchmaker Willie Daly said that “the Samaritans would be better off coming when the festival is over, as people will then be missing the unique September atmosphere,
rather than when there is no loneli- ness in the town. Hats off to them. I think it is a marvellous idea that the Samaritans are coming to Lisdoon- varna, but here, no one goes home disappointed during the month of September. There is an absence of loneliness here during the month.” Asked if he had made any match- es this year, he said, “I matched up a couple there on the first weekend and the woman got back to me to say that they are already talking about marriage, so that makes my job
easy to do. I believe that the eligible Irish man is an endangered species, because you have all these women coming from overseas, including the European countries, seeking them out and there is not enough of them. As the song goes, ‘Nobody Loves Like An Irish Man’.”
Willie revealed that a number of very wealthy US women are due in Lisdoonvarna “looking for an ordi- nary Irish man, because they hear that Irish men are good lovers and very good characters”.