IRELAND’S OXEGEN music festival will not take place next year, according to a report in the Irish Times.

The newspaper says MCD promoters confirmed the festival will be suspended in 2012 in a move similar to what is happening to the Glastonbury festival in the UK.

According to the report, a text from MCD spokesman Justin Green said: “Oxegen, like Glastonbury, is taking a year off in 2012 and will be back July 2013.”

Oxegen has been running from 2004 and is by far the biggest music event in Ireland every year, attracting almost every major act in contemporary music. Prior to Oxegen, it was known as Witnness.

It has taken place every year at Punchestown Racecourse and at its peak was selling 80,000 weekend tickets.

However, the recession has taken its toll on people aged between 18 and 30, who make up the festival’s main audience. Many are unemployed and a huge number have emigrated.

Last year’s event is believed to have attracted in the region of 58,000 fans, making it financially difficult for the festival to carry on.

The announcement has become something of the worst kept secret in Irish music. It now remains to be seen if a succession of concerts in the Phoenix Park on the lines of the festivals in Victoria Park in London will be hosted in Dublin next summer.