25/05/2026
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Outside Tom Duffy’s big top, cold wind lashes the canvas while generators hum. The circus has survived famine, war, recession and pandemics, but it’s not easy.
Inside, David Duffy (65) looks exhausted. Sitting beneath a portrait of his late father, the heir to Ireland’s 250-year-old circus dynasty is carrying the weight of a promise made before his father died.
Founded in 1775 by Dublin shoemaker Patrick James Duffy, Duffy’s Circus is one of Ireland’s longest-running entertainment traditions, travelling the country for generations and now staging more than 300 shows every year.
When Tom Duffy died in 2022 aged 92, his son promised the circus would survive. The name, stitched into Irish life for centuries, would not disappear on his watch.
With no siblings, he feels “a huge responsibility” to carry on the family tradition. But David fears the curtain could come down before the end of this season.
“We’ll be lucky to make it to October,” he says. “But I can’t do that to Daddy.”
The scale of the operation is enormous. Artist fees alone exceeded €551,000 in 2025, while wages totalled more than €171,000.
Ground rents approached €86,000, motor expenses passed €111,000 and insurance costs exceeded €61,000.
Generator fuel came to almost €60,000, while Facebook advertising neared €66,000. It now costs around €3,000 every week just to fuel their 22 lorries.
“It’s impossible,” David says. “People see the lights and the music, but they don’t see what it costs to keep this on the road.”
