2020 told to ‘plough on’ with events programme

The Government has told Galway 2020 to plough on with plans for a ‘re-imagined’ European Capital of Culture.

Virtually none of the projects for the first half of the year have proceeded due to Covid-19, but Culture Minister Josepha Madigan said her Department is committed to funding the remaining projects in a “revised programme”.

The promise of more money offers a lifeline to an organisation that has been on life support since the Covid-19 crisis.

But both Galway 2020 and Minister Madigan said there would be redundancies at the company set that was set up to deliver on the promises made in the Capital of Culture bid book.

A spokesperson confirmed that 20 workers at Galway 2020 “will be temporarily laid off during the month of May while we undertake a redundancy consultation process with all members of the team”.

She said a “skeleton staff” – understood to be about 10 – will remain on during May, made up of representatives from each operational area of the organisation.

Asked to clarify what roles will be made redundant, the Galway 2020 spokesperson said: “At this stage we are not in a position to pre-empt what the outcome of the redundancy process will be.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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