Panti Bliss, Ireland’s foremost drag queen, will give the 2017 Fringe Central Welcome Address at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

On Friday the 4th of August Panti, the stage name of performer Rory O’Neill, will welcome Fringe participants to Fringe Central, the Fringe Society’s centre for performing companies, venues, media and arts industry professionals attending the Fringe.

In her 2016 Fringe show Panti Bliss: High Heels in Low Places, Panti discussed her accidental ascension to international equality icon after speaking out about homophobia in the Irish media in the run up to the 2015 Irish referendum on same-sex marriage. ‘Pantigate’ began after comments made by Rory on RTÉ’s The Saturday Night Show resulted in RTÉ issuing an apology and paying €85,000 to those mentioned in the interview, who had threatened the network with legal action.

Panti’s address will be the opening event in the 2017 Fringe Central Events Programme. The programme, published today, features over 100 professional development sessions that will run throughout August and are free for Fringe participants to attend.

Rory O’Neill said: "I was delighted to be asked to give the Fringe Central Welcome Address this year, partly because I was pretty sure it would involve a free trip to Edinburgh, but mostly because it doesn't get any more fringe than me! And also, I owe fringe, because it was fringe that carved out a space where a performer like me could be taken seriously. I hope to provide a little inspiration and a warm welcome to everyone taking part in this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe."

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “We are thrilled to have Panti delivering our Fringe Central Welcome Address for the 70th anniversary edition of the Fringe. Rory’s experience as a performer and as an advocate for the LGBT community are truly inspiring and embody the ethos of the Fringe as the largest platform for creative freedom of expression in the world.