Connacht Tribune
Alcohol sponsorship ban would hit Galway Races and Arts Festival
The city’s two flagship festivals, that attract tens of thousands of visitors to Galway annually, have warned they face massive funding shortfalls if new alcohol sponsorship laws are implemented.
The drinks lobby has also cautioned that new measures in the Public Health Alcohol Bill pose a “huge risk” to the Galway Races and Galway Arts Festival and other popular festivals and cultural events.
These fears are echoed by the heads of the two major events, which are the tourist industry’s main economic driver every summer.
General Manager of Galway Races, Michael Moloney, said the consequences of the new bill would be “hugely damaging” to the summer racing festival at Ballybrit.
Paul Fahy, Artistic Director of the Arts Festival, said banning alcohol sponsorship would be a “huge loss” to the country’s annual cultutal highlight that celebrates its 40th year this July.
Guinness sponsors the entire cards on Thursday (Ladies Day) and Friday of the Galway Races, including a prize fund of €300,000 for the prestigious steeplechase, the Guinness Galway Hurdle. Hotels, and bars also sponsor other races during the weeklong meet.
Absolut vodka, meanwhile, is the main sponsor of the Big Top tent at the Arts Festival, which hosts The Coronas, Gavin James, Brian Wilson and Jenny Greene and the RTÉ Orchestra this July.
The new bill proposes minimum unit pricing to curb consumption. It also proposes restrictions on advertising, which are causing concern to organisers of events reliant on alcohol funding.
The fears were voiced just days after members of the HSE West Regional Health Forum supported a motion proposed by Labour Party City Councillor Niall McNelis to ensure the passage of the bill by Government as a matter of urgency.
General Manager of Galway Races, Michael Moloney, said the consequences of the new bill would be “hugely damaging” to the summer racing festival at Ballybrit. If enacted, the bill would leave a “gaping hole” in the funding structure of the races and other festivals, he warned.
In a statement, Mr Moloney said: “The proposals contained in this Bill will, I believe, have hugely damaging unintended consequences for the Galway Races in addition to other festivals and commercial events. Longstanding supporters and partnerships are integral to our continued success.
“Major festivals such as the Galway Races have a huge economic impact on the locality and the advertising provisions contained in the bill will leave a gaping hole in the funding structure and subsequently create real concern and uncertainty.”
Paul Fahy, Artistic Director of the Arts Festival, echoed these sentiments, and said the loss of the festival’s drinks partner, Absolut, who are “very, very supportive” would be “serious”.
Mr Fahy said it is difficult enough to acquire sponsors and to retain them, and ruling them out through this bill would represent a “huge loss” to the festival.
“I don’t know the exact figure of how much of the €8.5 million in alcohol sponsorship goes on arts and culture, and how much is for sport, but in the context of the Arts Council’s annual budget of €60 million, to lose sponsorship would be very significant,” he said.
The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) said the bill to restrict advertising will effectively ban sponsorship and pose a huge risk festivals and events including the Galway Races.
It will also undermine Government support for the creative industries and the role of the arts which support economic growth and balanced regional development.
“The Galway Races is one of the country’s flagship summer festivals attracting almost 140,000 visitors during race week. The drinks industry provides almost €8.5 million in sponsorship to over 50 arts, sporting and cultural events around the country which is essential to their viability and sustainability.
“These events showcase some of Ireland’s finest sporting and cultural contributions and have multiple economic dividends including job creation, tourism, regional development in addition to enhancing Ireland’s reputation abroad.
“The measures proposed will effectively ban sponsorship opportunities through a variety of advertising restrictions for the cultural sector in Ireland, which will threaten the Galway Races and Puck Fair amongst other cultural events,” said Patricia Callan, Director of ABFI.
She said the advertising provisions of the Bill will decrease the volume and value of sponsorship partnerships for drinks companies and will restrict the ability of drinks companies to activate sponsorship campaigns through advertising by making sponsorship “practically valueless” to the sponsor.
The severity of the content restrictions means that that images of conviviality – such as a scene in an Irish pub – images of a person consuming alcohol or indeed images of people will be banned, she said.
Ms Callan added: “It’s hard to fathom but it will mean the banning of the iconic Guinness Christmas advert. The hugely restrictive nature of the Bill will make activating any cultural and sporting sponsorships extremely difficult and potentially impossible and present a real threat to Galway.
“A much more workable solution is to place the existing codes on a statutory footing, with significant penalties for breaches. This could be implemented within a much shorter short timeframe with a regulatory authority already in place to police the system.”
Cllr McNelis received unanimous support for his motion in favour of the bill at the latest health forum meeting.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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