‘Death of Galway Races’ article blasted as unfair

Date Published: 09-Aug-2012

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

A tabloid Sunday newspaper report which proclaimed the ‘death’ of the Galway Races has been branded as “grossly unfair” in the context of the impact which bad weather, the recession, and strong counter-attractions had on the festival this year.

The reporter from the Mail on Sunday chose the worst possible evening of the seven day festival, weather-wise, to report on how deserted the Ballybrit venue seemed and to lament on the absence of so-called ‘celebrities’ on Tuesday.

While chronicling how much some city hotels hiked their prices for the busiest week of the year, and questioning whether anyone can afford €90 bottles of champagne any more, reporter Eoin Murphy asked whether punters were witnessing the demise of Irish racing’s biggest festival.

He claimed that the “slow decline” of the country’s biggest festival began when former Fianna Fail leader Brian Cowen closed the infamous Fianna Fail tent at Ballybrit four years ago.

The statistics do show that the attendance was down over 15,000, from 147,668 to 132,215, on the 2011 figures. Bookmaker turnover also decreased sharply from the previous year, down from €11,818,890 to €8,700,318.

But attendances actually increased on the Monday and the Sunday – the two days when the sun shone – while appalling weather conditions may have accounted for a sharp decline of 3,500 on the Tuesday and almost 6,000 on Thursday (Ladies’ Day).

“It seemed particularly unfair to highlight how ‘deserted’ the place seemed on Tuesday evening, when the weather was so bad you would not have put a dog out in it,” said Michael Coyle of the Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr Coyle said it was unfair to compare this year’s figures to the extraordinary attendance and betting figures for the ‘Celtic Tiger’ years of 2005 to 2007. In 2006, an incredible 53,820 people attended on Ladies’ Day.

“Comparing this year to those peak years is grossly unfair,” he said. “They were abnormal times across many fronts. I would say that, compared to more ‘normal’ pre-Celtic Tiger times, this year’s figures stand up quite well.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.