Hundreds of people attend pilot events in Kildare, Kerry

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh in Co Kildare and a concert with Christy Moore in Killarney, Co Kerry, are part of a series of pilot events to test the easing of restrictions on coronaviruses.
A thousand spectators attended Curragh today for Ireland’s first classic racing event – the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.
Of these, 50 free tickets have been reserved for frontline workers as a sign of goodwill towards those who have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19.
Another 200 were for local residents of Kildare, while 300 were for members of Curragh Racecourse.
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One of the many music events planned for the summer supported by Covid-19 government funding is the concert in Killarney where Christy Moore is headlining.
Speaking on the funding announcement, Culture Minister Catherine Martin said pilot events like this were “really important” to “help create this roadmap to get back to live music”.
All participants will be seated for the duration of the event.
INEC can accommodate up to 4,500 people. The 200 tickets for tonight’s show were sold in groups of six and came with conditions.
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Each pod has been assigned a specific staggered arrival time and a pre-assigned table.
Masks were to be worn by people entering and leaving the room.
All spectators were also required to provide their contact tracing details for tracing purposes, as well as having the Health Service Executive Covid app installed and activated on their smartphones.
Anyone showing symptoms of Covid-19 has been urged to stay away from the event.