Popularity of Sligo Abbey leads to calls for year round opening

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

With visitor numbers trebling over the past decade to the point where 46,000 visited Sligo Abbey in 2025, Cllr Ann Higgins received the backing of her fellow Councillors at the March meeting of the Sligo Borough Municipal District when her motion called for the contracts of existing staff to be extended by 2.5 months which she said, “Is a a practical, low-cost way of delivering a premier, authentic, all year round tourist attraction.”

Cllr Higgins noted, “An extended season in Sligo Abbey would provide this very talented and dedicated guiding team an opportunity to expand their offerings during the shoulder season in such an historically important and dare I say ‘Instagramable’ location. Year long opening can help grow our tourism’s economy and provide more opportunities for a new generation to explore and appreciate the rich heritage that is literally on our doorstep.

“The qualified team are ready and willing but the break in contracts makes it impossible to provide such offerings in what would be a most welcome additional to bolster the off peak shoulder tourism season. At present, the team return to work just a week before St Patrick’s Day, which makes it difficult to properly plan and promote meaningful programming at this key moment in the tourism calendar.”

Outlining the historical significance of the Abbey, Cllr Higgins said, “The Abbey is the only surviving building from the town’s foundation nearly 800 years ago and is one of the few town-centre sites where visitors can reliably encounter Sligo’s history, culture and local knowledge — particularly on Sundays and Mondays, when much of the town is closed. For the guiding team, there is nothing more disheartening to see visitors peering through locked gates during the off-season, and much of the momentum built up with schools, business, tour operators and neighbours in the community during the main visitor period is lost.”

Highlighting the progress that has been made in relation to the campaign to introduce 12 month opening at Sligo Abbey, Cllr Higgins noted, “There has been recent engagement with Sligo County Council as well as with stakeholders such as Sligo BID to make the case for extending the Abbey’s season. That engagement helped secure permission for a Christmas opening in 2025, including carol concerts and arts and crafts events.

"Events have been key to the success, with more than 5,000 people visiting the Abbey during Heritage Week alone last year, when daily events were staged. These initiatives contributed significantly to the 33% increase in visitor numbers in 2025 and strongly support the Council’s ambition to position Sligo as a festival-led, experience-rich destination.

Cllr Higgins also focused on the financial benefits to the local economy in keeping the site open year round stressing, “From a cost perspective, year-round opening represents a modest intervention with disproportionate benefits. The visitor centre must be heated through the winter in any case to prevent damage from freezing. Highly skilled guides are instead required to sign on for jobseeker’s allowance during the closed period, despite being passionate advocates for the town and county.

"At a macro level, we are simply moving money from one pot to another – OPW into Social Welfare pot, and it does not make financial sense when we see the potential injection to the local economy.”

The motion was supported by Cllr Declan Bree who remarked, “I tabled a similar motion some time back, calling on the OPW and the Minister of State with Responsibility for the Office of Public Works to take the necessary action to extend the visitor season. It is now accepted that the Abbey serves as a major driver for additional business in Sligo by acting as a cornerstone for heritage-led tourism and cultural activities.

"As the motion points out, last year the Abbey attracted over 46,000 visitors. This high footfall directly benefits local businesses as visiting tourists explore the nearby shopping streets in the town centre, particularly availing of services in café’s and restaurants. I find it difficult to understand why the Minister will not extend the opening hours.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.