COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN, NEWCASTLE, RATHCOOLE, SAGGART AND BRITTAS AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor F. Timmons

That this Area Committee calls on SDCC to support the Lá Féile Bríde festival committee in its efforts to bring it's hugely successful festival to an even higher plane in 2026. It hopes to put on a festival of light on the eve of Saint Brigid's day such as that seen at this year's Púca festival which was strongly funded by Meath County Council. Such a spectacle would cost at least €20,000 but it is most appropriate that SDCC would support this venture considering the strong links to Brigid in the County, with wells at Clondalkin and Rathcoole and a history of the celebration of the coming of the light at Imbolg now firmly established. Brigid, our national saint and goddess, should be celebrated in our county in a manner comparable to the way she is celebrated in Kildare and Louth. We also ask that this motion is brought to the full Council.

REPORT:

A variety of engaging events and festivals help animate a location, encourage creativity, and have the potential to generate an economic dividend for that location. These immersive festivals can help grow tourist and local visitor numbers and are called out as strategic priorities in the Council’s Tourism Strategy as a means of realising the county’s potential, and redefining the county’s reputation. Ideally these events and festivals should have an easily defined target audience, and offer those audiences an experience that they won’t get anywhere else.

The County Promotion Unit at South Dublin County Council are dedicated to supporting events or festivals that will drive tourism and help to develop the visitor experience on offer in South Dublin. The Unit administers the annual Tourism Event and Festival Grant, the aim of which is to fund innovative events or festivals centred around food, culture, sport and activity that will increase bed nights and stimulate the local economy.

This funding programme is aimed at organisations and event organisers who plan to hold a public event or festival in South Dublin County Council’s administrative area and who require financial assistance via public funds to deliver the event or festival.

The next grant scheme will open in the New Year for events planned for 2025, and will be advertised widely including on the Council’s website and social media channels.

In the meantime, queries relating to this scheme can be e-mailed to the County Promotion Unit at  econdev@sdublincoco.ie