Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am aware of the many community groups up and down the country that give so much to organising festivals that benefit the wider community and attract significant numbers of visitors to rural areas. A number of Members put queries to me on this issue during the week. The Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, has been doing a lot of work with a number of festivals in his area. Deputy O'Flynn has outlined how much out of pocket some of the festivals are and the exposure faced by community groups.
I understand there is an intervention in the High Court in relation to this issue. Therefore, I must be careful in what I say. The first point I will make is that protections are very clearly set out for a lot of areas where client money is held. This particular area does concern me. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, there may be a gap in the regulatory environment. We will look at that because we want to ensure maximum protections are afforded to client moneys being held by any organisation. In the context of a liquidation process, the rules are very clear in terms of the action a liquidator will take in regard to preferential creditors and how that process is worked through. As I said, a court action is going on in the background.
I have asked my Department to investigate what we can do and what supports we can provide in this regard. However, I do not want to make false promises. We have committed a very significant budget over the next three years for festival events through Fáilte Ireland, which is supporting many festivals up and down the country. That will bring a huge amount of economic activity to many rural parts of our country. I absolutely am not in any way unsympathetic to the issues the Deputy has raised. I work with community groups. I am at the coalface in a rural town where exactly that activity is happening. I know how much of their time volunteers give to run festivals, particularly ones like the Rory Gallagher International Festival in Ballyshannon, Cowboys and Heroes in County Leitrim and Rockathon at Fairyhouse, that have a very significant reputation. They are all important events that contribute very substantially to their localities.
I will revert to the Deputy in the first instance in terms of regulatory gaps that may exist in relation to clients' funds. I need to go through that properly in the Department to see exactly what we can do in terms of supports. The Corporate Enforcement Authority is there. If there are any allegations, we can investigate them. However, I must be careful in terms of the High Court case that is currently under way.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11