THE ORGANISERS OF a Dún Laoghaire festival intended to act as a replacement for the now-defunct Festival of World Cultures have cancelled the event at ‘the eleventh hour’.

In a note published on the People’s Festival’s Facebook page last night, the festival committee said it took “full responsibility for the oversights involved in the festival’s planning, which have led us to withdraw from the implementation of this festival.”

The note gave no explanation as to the precise reasons for the festival being abandoned, but the committee promised that “further explanation will be forthcoming”.

“Words cannot express the disappointment felt across the board of organisers and we can only hope that this development is received with sympathy and understanding,” the note read, adding that the team hoped to provide a similar event in future.

A number of the performances scheduled for the festival have been rearranged for venues in Dublin city centre.

The cancellation does not affect events organised by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council taking place elsewhere in the area.

Acts scheduled to perform at the event are asked to contact the festival organisers via the details posted to its Facebook page.

The festival had been intended to act as a replacement for the council-run Festival of World Cultures, which was suspended last October after the 2010 festival ran a deficit €400,000 greater than expected – a price deemed unsustainable by the council given cuts to its own funding.

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