Fáilte Ireland Announces €100k For Festivals In County Cork

Fáilte Ireland today announced that it has allocated €100,250 in funding to 25 festivals in County Cork, as part its 2017 Regional Festivals & Participative Events Programme.

The festivals being funded by Fáilte Ireland include:

Cork Midsummer Festival - €18,000

Cork Film Festival - €9,500

A Taste of West Cork Festival - €9,500

Litfest, Ballymaloe - €7,000

Fastnet Film Festival - €6,000

Cork Folk Festival - €5,000

Cork Harbour Festival & Ocean to City - €5,000

Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival - €5,000

Munster Fleadh Cheoil 2017 - €4,000

Cork Craft Month 2017 - €3,000

Summer on the West Cork Islands - €3,000

Bantry Mussel Fair - €3,000

Jim Dowling Uileann Pipe and Trad Festival - €3,000

Medley of Festivals & Events - €3,000

West Cork Rally - €3,000

Masters of Tradition - €3,000

Racing Home for Easter Festival - €2,000

Baltimore Fiddle Fair - €1,250

Midleton Food and Drink Festival - €1,000

Cork Comedy Festival - €1,000

Seafood & Shanty Ballycotton - €1,000

Cloyne Music Fest - €1,000

Skibbereen Arts Festival - €1,000

Schull Regatta - €1,000

West Cork History Festival - €1,000

Announcing the funding, Minister of State for Tourism Patrick O’Donovan, said: “The funding announced today will allow Cork to broaden its appeal to overseas visitors and can provide a boost to tourism activity in the locality which is good news for the local economy and employment.”

Festivals and events provide a great motivation for visitors to travel around Ireland and add another dimension to the tourist experience on the ground. They are the life-blood of tourism and mobilise many visitors to choose to come to Ireland in the first instance”

Fáilte Ireland provides grant funding to local festivals which apply to its Regional Festivals and Participative Events Programme. The programme is reviewed every year with a view to generating incremental visitor growth and revenue. The focus for festivals in 2017 is on growing tourism demand outside the peak season and to spread and grow tourism demand more evenly across the country.

Speaking today Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, emphasised the importance of festivals for Ireland and the tourism sector: “Fáilte Ireland is very much committed to a greater spread of regional activity as well as supporting a longer tourism year. Festivals - which can take place anywhere and at any time of the year - are very much a part of this focus on greater regionality and seasonality.”