Gathering groups left to carry the can as state slashes festival grants

Several community groups around County Galway, who were encouraged to organise events in conjunction with The Gathering, have now been left financially embarrassed after the Government slashed the budget for the events by more than half.

The organizers of one of the biggest events held in the county recently, which attracted visitors from Europe and America, has found itself owing money that it doesn’t have.

And it has been learned by The Connacht Tribune that other planned events, aimed at bringing emigrants home, have either been scrapped completely or are in serious doubt.

It was understood that the county would receive around €5 million from the Government to facilitate the festivals being organised in conjunction with The Gathering – this budget has now been slashed to €2 million with many applicants now left facing a financial dilemma.

Galway Rural Development had the responsibility of distributing the funds to the organisers of the relevant events – but they had no choice but to inform disappointed communities that their applications for funding had failed.

Communities in Galway who decided to organise gatherings had assumed that they would receive some funding and proceeded with their plans to bring home as many emigrants as they could.

One such event was the Ballymoe Gathering of 1,000 Beards which received national media attention – but they have now been left with a significant deficit after discovering they will not be getting the state aid they thought they had in the bag.

Mary Finnegan, a member of the organising committee, told The Connacht Tribune that they submitted their application for funding, were left under the impression that they would get something and discovered to their horror that they would get nothing.

“It may seem a small amount but we spent more than €7,000 in the expectation that we would get a Government grant. We have now been told by Galway Rural Development that our application has been unsuccessful,” she said.

Ms. Finnegan added that the event was a huge success and brought hundreds into the tiny village over the course of three days. They came from Canada, America, Tazmania, Poland, France and South America.

She said that they applied for €10,000 and were left under the impression that they would get three-quarters of this but were shocked when nothing came through.

For full story see this week’s Connacht Tribune.