Liverpool is in the middle of its biggest Irish moment of the year. The Liverpool Irish Festival runs for ten days, from Thursday 15 to Sunday 25 October, with nearly 40 events and exhibitions spread across the city, and a wider ring of satellite events that keep things going from 1 October right through to 2 November. This year's theme is 'I Am Here', which the organisers describe as a declaration of presence, an act of arrival, and a claim to be seen and recognised on one's own terms.
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The festival is built on a heavy piece of local history: the 1.8 million poor people who fled the Great Irish Famine and landed at Clarence Dock between 1845 and 1853. That thread runs through the programme, from the An Gorta Mór vigil on 25 October, which follows the 'Walk of the Bronze Shoes' from Clarence Dock to St Luke's Bombed Out Church, to the new Liverpool Irish Famine Trail, with guided tours on 24 October and a community walk along Scotland Road on 18 October. It's not all easy listening, either: the festival tackles the Troubles and institutional abuse in Ireland, with care warnings, post-show talks and signposted support for anyone who needs it.
On the music front, the big names are back. Kíla, the seven-piece Dublin group, played the Philharmonic Music Room on 16 October for the first time in eight years, and Téada, the Sligo group, follow on 23 October with 'Return to London Town', which they're touring to mark 25 years on the road. The Phogues headline the Liverpool Irish Centre on 24 October, forty years on from their debut album 'Red Roses for Me'. In between, there's a genderless céilí at St Bride's Church on 17 October, a massive 'I Am Here' showcase at Sefton Park Palm House on 22 October with more than 50 musicians and dancers, and a run of theatre at Unity Theatre and Hope Street Theatre.
There's plenty that doesn't cost a penny. A full day of authors takes over Liverpool Central Library on 17 October, and the Victoria Gallery and Museum hosts a talk on the authorised biography of John McGahern on 18 October, alongside the John McGahern Annual Book Prize. The visual arts side is just as busy, with 'In the Window' at the Bluecoat Display Centre and 'The St Brigid's Arms', a fictional Irish pub created by and for women of Irish heritage, over at the Victoria Gallery and Museum.
Families are well looked after, too. A Family Day at the Museum of Liverpool on 24 October brings together The Armagh Rhymers, local dance schools and Brave Maeve activities, and the whole thing wraps up with a Samhain Céilí at the Liverpool Irish Centre on 25 October, costume competitions and all. If money is the issue, bursary places are kept back for anyone who can't afford the entry price, and the festival has added new social access stories for neurodivergent visitors this year.
It's a lot to take in, so the best thing to do is pick a few things that genuinely interest you rather than trying to do it all. Most of the free events still need booking, and the ticketed ones sit somewhere between £5 and £32, so it's worth checking the programme before you commit. Either way, it's a good excuse to spend a few evenings following the Irish trail around the city.
Published Date
19 October 2026
