Announcing details of those taking part, new Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys said: "This year's showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is of exceptionally high quality, and I am pleased to see that partnerships have been maintained with key venues, the Traverse and Dance Base."

Bush Moukarzel's multi-award winning production Lippy, a haunting investigation into why we tell stories in the face of tragedy,will be presented at the Traverse Theatre for three weeks during the Festival Fringe. The Emergency Room and Galway Arts Festival production of Riverrun, with Olwen Fouéré performing her acclaimed adaptation of the voice of the river in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, will also showcase at the Traverse for the duration of the Festival.

Dance Base will present both CoisCéim's production of the dance poem Missing, a reminder of the fragility and beauty of moments shared, and the Fishamble production of Swing, a comedy about dancing and music and love and not settling and feeling like an eejit and being brave and having doubts and trying your best and giving it a lash, by Steve Blount, Peter Daly, Gavin Kostick and Janet Moran. Both productions will run for the duration of the Fringe.

Minister Humphreys said that Ireland's special relationship with the Edinburgh International Book Festival will also continue this year with a number of award-winning Irish authors invited to read from their latest published works. 

Announcing support the Minister said: "It is wonderful to see such a strong programme of Irish artists participating in one of the most unique and prestigious festivals in the world. I know that Irish artists have consistently performed to critical and popular success in Edinburgh and I fully expect that success to continue this year."

Culture Ireland
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, through Culture Ireland promotes Irish arts worldwide by creating and supporting opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues.

Awards 2013
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht through its Culture Ireland showcase programme has supported Irish artists at the Edinburgh Festivals since 2008. Irish artists have consistently won awards at Edinburgh with 2013 being the most successful year to date with the Beckett at the Festival Strand (Gate Theatre and Pan Theatre) winning the Herald Angel award, the Abbey Theatre's production of Quietly by Owen McCafferty, Deirdre Kinahan's These Halcyon Days and Donal O'Kelly's Fionnuala winning a total of  3 Fringe First Awards and Brokentalkers' Have I No Mouth winning a Total Theatre Award.

The Fringe First Awards recognise outstanding new writing premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Total Theatre Awards recognise innovative work by professional artists and companies in the areas of theatre, live art, visual performance, experimental theatre amongst other art forms.

Venues
The Traverse Theatre's programme of work during August has built an international reputation for presenting and producing the best new writing while, in recent years, Dance Base's curated programme has become a cornerstone of the Edinburgh showcase and many talented Irish dance artists and companies have received international recognition and success through their presentations there.