Council sets out the key role festivals and events will play in Sligo over the next five years

Irish Independent

13-05-2025

This follows a wide stakeholder engagement process and is the culmination of a review that examined the broad spectrum of festivals and events taking place in the county all year round and best practice elsewhere.
It acknowledges the key role that festivals and events play in the tourism offering in county Sligo and facilitates the delivery of a planned and coordinated approach to supporting festivals and events.
Cllr Declan Bree, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, welcomed the strategy saying: 'This strategy values the huge commitment from the community as well as the business and creative sectors and I want to extend appreciation to all the festivals and event organisers, and organisations with a role in festival delivery, who have contributed to the development of the strategy and the stakeholder engagement process.
'You have helped shape this document by your insights and experiences from a practical and lived perspective.'
The strategy, in setting out an implementation plan for the next five years, looks at a range of important issues in addition to funding such as marketing, capacity building and training, programme development as well as governance.
The Chair of the Sligo Local Community Development Committee, Cllr Donal Gilroy, said:'It is significant that the LCDC could approve LEADER funding to help fund the development of the strategy and the success of the strategy will be enhanced by inter–agency and cross community collaboration.'
This strategy, setting out a hierarchy of festivals, sits within the transformative Fáilte Ireland WAW marketing campaign and the County Sligo Destination and Experience Development Plan, as well as the Sligo 2030 vision.
Chief Executive of Sligo County Council, Martin Lydon commented that 'Festivals and Events are a huge driver for the economic, community and social fabric of our society.
'We are fortunate in Sligo to have an outstanding array of festival and events which complement and animate new public realm and tourism infrastructural projects delivered by the Council'.