COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, January 14, 2013
QUESTION NO 13
QUESTION: Councillor E. Tuffy
To ask the Manager for a Report on the Council's plans to participate in the Gathering 2013?
REPLY:
South Dublin County Tourism Ltd. (SDCT) in partnership with South Dublin County Council and others proposes to host a number of international tournaments (up to 25) as part of The Gathering 2013 featuring different sports, culture and art genres and focusing primarily on several of the most important tourism markets - the USA, UK, Canada and Europe. The underpinning idea is that we make the optimum use of the facilities that we have available to us in the County - particularly Tallaght Stadium, the National Basketball Arena, and Corkagh Park, where there is one of the very few Baseball Diamonds in Ireland.
It is proposed to stage both international Soccer and American Football tournaments in Tallaght Stadium, which of course has catered for both sports on many occasions already. The National Basketball Arena will be used to host a number of international Basketball tournaments. There are also both Bridge and Poker competitions scheduled to take place in the CityWest hotel.
All of these events are planned to be free of charge for spectators and are expected to attract very significant numbers of visitors from abroad. These visitors will have a great economic impact on many of the businesses in the area, in the catering and hospitality sector in particular. This will help to stabilise jobs and businesses and may possibly create more jobs of a temporary nature. It is estimated that 30,000 additional visitors will visit the county in 2013 and attract in excess of €50 million into the local economy of South Dublin County.
SDCT and SDCC are working very closely together on this project and have linked up directly with the various National Governing Bodies of the various sports to ensure the successful hosting of these tournaments.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny launched a €2million IPB Gathering Ireland Fund on 25th October 2012. The fund, a 50:50 partnership between IPB Insurance and The Gathering Ireland 2013 is in response to the rapidly growing number of gatherings being planned across the country for 2013. The fund will be administered by local authorities across the State to support events and gatherings that have the capacity to attract overseas visitors.
IPB Insurance has allocated €1 million of the fund to support local flagship events and activities in every city and county. The fund will be distributed across city and county councils and will range from €25,000 and €60,000 to support up to three flagship events in each council area subject to approval based on application criteria. In parallel, The Gathering Ireland 2013 has allocated a further €1 million to the fund to target other local and community events in each county. Grant amounts from €500- €2,500 will be made available to these events following approval through a short application process.
The Gathering Local Community Fund
The key objective of this Fund is to provide support to local and community Gathering event organisers and activities / projects which will drive international visitors to each County / City in the country. The funds will be provided by Fáilte Ireland but will be administered by each local authority for its own area.
The funding available ranges from a minimum of €500 to a maximum of €2,500 per project. The funding issued is directly linked to the number of Overseas Visitors attracted to the event. Following evaluation of applications received there were 7 no. successful applications.
IPB Gathering Fund (Flagship Projects)
The key objective of this fund is to provide support for up to 3 significant Gathering events/activities in each of the 34 city and county local authority areas
A number of Flagship Project applications have been received and processed and recommendations made following a rigorous assessment process which applied cruteria set out by The Gathering Ireland and IPB the sponsors. To be eligible for funding, a Flagship proposal must demonstrate a capacity to deliver a specified number of overseas visitors. It would be expected that applicants would deliver a minimum of 200 incremental overseas visitors per €10,000 grant awarded. The Flagship event must also "contribute significantly to the County's calendar of Gathering events in relation to attracting overseas visitors and complement the national Gathering Ireland 2013 programme".
www.thegatheringdublin.com for news and information on South Dublin County.
www.thegatheringireland.com for news and information nationally.