Tipperary festival funding ‘not worth a damn’ for local events
Council funding allocated towards festivals in Tipperary is “not worth a damn,” according to a local representative.
At the January meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors were given a briefing on tourism in the county, and the activities that are ongoing to attract tourists into the county.
Councillors were given a presentation by tourism activator Mairead Winters and Damien Ginty, the council’s director of services for economic development.
Speaking after the presentation, independent councillor Jim Ryan questioned why festivals weren’t mentioned as part of the council’s tourism strategy, adding that they have the potential to attract people from all over Ireland, and even abroad.
"We have a huge number of fantastic festivals across Tipperary, I think festivals are a huge opportunity. I’m involved in a festival in Thurles, it’s a four-day festival, and we have 5,000 people each day,” Cllr Ryan said.
"We also have four campsites, there’s campervans coming to Thurles for those four days, all the hotels and B&Bs are booked out, and we get people from all 32 counties in Ireland, and abroad.
"We have a golden opportunity, Tipperary is ideally located for festivals, we’re centrally located, and easily got to,” Cllr Ryan added.
Despite this driver of tourism, the independent councillor said, the council’s grants for festivals taking place across the county simply aren’t enough, and more money needs to be allocated for this.
"Grants of €1,000, grants of €500 for festivals, and I’m not saying this because I’m ungrateful, but I’m not really happy with it,” he said.
"It’s not worth a damn to festivals, it doesn’t even cover the costs of insurance. If we’re serious about festivals in Tipperary that have proven track record of bringing people into the districts, that are highlighting the more than their towns and villages, €500 or €1,000 is useless to them, they should be giving thousands,” Cllr Ryan said.
"This would mean they can continue on, and expand their festivals and bring in new events into their festival, we have a huge budget in Tipperary County Council, we have a huge marketing and tourism budget, but €500. €1,000 or €1,500 is not worth a damn to a festival,” he hit out.
In response, Ms Winters said that Tipperary County Council’s festivals and events grant is now open for applications, and that there are additional funding streams in the pipeline.
"There is an open call now for the festival and events grant, and people can apply for that through the arts office, but I had a consultation with Fáilte Ireland, and Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands are bringing out a new festival and events strategy, what that will look like, I don’t know yet, but I did bring up the issue of funding and insurance with them,” Ms Winters said.
"Fáilte Ireland will have a festival and events strategy, a national one, and there will be funding for that to support these festivals and events, so that is something that will come down the line,” she added.