• Freya Guinness, Aoife Corcoran, Michael J O'Grady, and Jennifer Finnegan.
• Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar, Dublin, Ireland. guinnesf@tcd.ie.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2024 Aug 29.

AimsFleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann, the world's largest Irish music festival, was held in Mullingar in August 2023, gathering a crowd of nearly 600,000 people. Our aim was to assess the impact on presentations to the local emergency department (ED).MethodsWe performed a retrospective case analysis on all presentations to the ED at Regional Hospital Mullingar (RHM) from 23/7/2023 to 02/09/2023. We also collected data on COVID-19 swab results processed in our laboratory.ResultsThere was a 10% increase in ED attendances during the 2 weeks of the Fleadh. There was a statistically significant increase in COVID-19 presentations when compared to national positivity rates.Discussion/ConclusionOur study shows that the Fleadh led to an increase in all-cause ED visits as well as an increase in COVID-19 cases. Our study plays an important role in informing health service preparation for future host towns of the Fleadh.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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