Departmental Funding
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I agree with the Deputy about the importance of festivals. I put on the record my thanks and that of the Minister of State to the volunteers who put them together. I am always struck that the volunteers who pull this festival together are the ones who make the least out of it. They are not involved in any of the hospitality businesses that do well. They do it together because there is massive community spirit. I assure the Deputy it is something we have looked at. Other supports are available through LEADER. The LEADER process is cumbersome because it involves EU funding, but both the Minister of State and I constantly ask our officials to ensure that the application process for any of our schemes is the least cumbersome possible, bearing in mind that volunteers are doing this. The local enhancement programme, LEP, process, which in the Deputy's case is open via Meath County Council, is a good example of a relatively less cumbersome process. We constantly keep it under review. Supports are available for festivals through Fáilte Ireland, the Department of tourism and local authorities. The model that we have with the Irish Shows Association, which had its annual general meeting in November in Trim, coincidentally, is a good model, in which we fund a national organisation, which, in turn, funds 130 local organisations.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-05