Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture

Redo91

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

cfeeneyinterior

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/galway-2020-events-may-be-cancelled-or-scaled-down-as-funding-dries-up-1.4169119?mode=amp

“Ever since this bid was won it has been a car crash,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Alan Cheevers.

Mrs OBumble

Redo91 wrote: »

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

Because you certainly won't get the funding if you don't have plans in place!

pure.conya

Redo91 wrote: »

You’d have to wonder how they could have planned events without having the funding in place!

they probably presumed that the council couldn't say no

this is a major international embarrassment for the city

Wombatman

Galway already has a great reputation as a tourist destination.

I hope this fiasco doesn’t do lasting damage.

Ashleigh1986

Deleted User wrote: »

Let me see if I have this straight because according to this thread.....

- the organisers are idiots for not doing something on New Year's Eve/Day and
- the organisers are idiots for doing something in Feb and
- the organisers are idiots for doing something outside
- the organisers are idiots for not using the race course instead cos it's more accessible than the city (the mind boggles at this one)

Oh and all of the above according to the prophet Ashleigh

Ye lot are worse than a meeting of the city Council

..... At least the councillors made a correct decision regarding further funding for this farce .
Organisers ??? Said the additional 2.5 million was going to be for " local artists "....
They even tried to pull that one .
Ah well we can look forward to arts festival / airport gig / Xmas market as part of the 2020 celebrations .....
O hold on they were already on in galway ...
You couldn't make this bull**** up

gordongekko

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

Ah well we can look forward to arts festival / airport gig / Xmas market as part of the 2020 celebrations .....
O hold on they were already on in galway ...
You couldn't make this bull**** up

How many times are you going to use this to attack them?. How in the name of god could you possibly mention a year long list of cultural events being run in the city and leave them off the list?

Ashleigh1986

This " farce" has received enough of public money .
Are we ever going to hear the correct breakdown of what they received both privately and publicly ????
It's obvious from today's decision , that the councillors weren't happy with the details , or more correctly lack of details , regarding what exactly the extra 2.5 million was going to be used for .

wily minx

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

ben.schlomo

wily minx wrote: »

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Or a taxi drivers rant!

Ashleigh1986

We will never get to see the " staff wages " part of this event .
These events depend on " volunteers " to do a lot of the heavy lifting which of course they receive no payment for .
That leaves more for the " top table " brigade .
You can be sure a large part of the PUBLIC MONEY this event has already received is going on the top tables salaries .
There has been zero transparency from the very beginning of this project .
It's all coming home to roost now .

Ashleigh1986

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Or a taxi drivers rant!

Rant ???
I've been proven 100% correct on this event .
You sir may bury your head in the sand regarding how OUR TAXES are used...
I WONT !!!
The councillors today once again asked for a detailed account of what the extra 2.5 million was going to be used for .
They weren't given that information .
So they refused the allocation .
This from the very start has smelt what it has turned out to be ....

ingalway

How can a programme that already has a budget of €39 million, most, if not all, public money, from local authorities, national government and European money, and that got an extra €2 million only last April from Galway County Council, not have to produce financial records on a quarterly basis so at least those providing the money can see how this is being spent and see why more money is now being asked for?
According to the Performance Delivery Agreement they should be providing this information to all funders. Would be good to hear something from the the Minsters Rep Board Member, Dr Moling Ryan. Or closer to home Mike Cubbard, the current Mayor of Galway, who is also a Board member. Surely he should be getting this information for the Council before they come looking for even more money?



https://www.chg.gov.ie/app/uploads/2018/11/performance-delivery-agreement-galway-2020.pdf


The last monitoring report - very thin on actual detail.

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/sites/creative-europe/files/files/ecoc-2020-galway-third-monitoring_en.pdf

Snow Garden

Our council is a shambles and these 2020 folks seem chaotic. Can we hand this award back and just keep doing the usual events that Galway does ok (races, arts etc)?

Redo91

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Because you certainly won't get the funding if you don't have plans in place!

Obviously can have plans but the fact that they are talking about cancelling things suggests that they put those plans into action without having the funding to begin with.

Muahahaha

wily minx wrote: »

Or they don't have the money to give. Could be any of those reasons. There's an awful lot that we don't know, such as staff wages etc. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Its a story because the organising committee has made it a story out of it by refusing to be transparent about how taxpayers money is being spent. This is Ireland, we are all used to taxpayers money getting wasted and producing mediocre results so it shouldnt be surprising when people question it. If the committee have nothing to hide why are they being so secretive?

If there are doing such a good job as they would claimly then they should be proud to open up their books and show the public that they are spending taxpayers money prudently. This hasnt been the case thus far so people are right to wonder what is going on. Them coming with a begging bowl seeking another 2.5 million of taxpayers money when the year is only just underway tells us that there is a level of bad financial management and budgeting going on here and their secrecy about it would make you wonder what else might be going on behind closed doors.

thesandeman

zell12 wrote: »

The Council has rejected Galway2020's application for an additional €2.5m

Thanks to another member of the Connelly family btw.

Does anybody know how the Rijeka launch worked out so we can compare?

flazio

I have a fear that in order to adjust to the funding cuts, events set for the county towns will be cancelled and the entire event becomes entirely city based.

Utopia Parkway

Wombatman wrote: »

Galway already has a great reputation as a tourist destination.

I hope this fiasco doesn’t do lasting damage.

I doubt it will stop a single visitor coming to Galway.

But no doubt the infighting and financial issues have been an embarrassment to the city and county so far and they have a big job on their hands to turn it around.

We'll be hearing for years "sure ye made an awful hames of it. Kilkenny should have got it or Limerick should have got it". And we won't have much to answer back with.

Whereisgalway

Limerick should have got it

timmyntc

sure ye made an awful hames of it

ClanofLams

Whole thing is a farce and absolute waste of money like that Arthouse cinema that cost millions upon millions and was then pretty much given away for free for 25 years. The alleged benefits of such funding are very questionable when there’s more fundamental work on roads houses etc needed all over city and county.

ingalway

All we will hear about is the legacy that it will leave Galway for years to come. They even have a special sub committee of the Board staying on in 2021 and beyond.
Apparently the Palas Cinema is now part of the 2020 legacy - even though it was proposed in 2004 and they started building in 2009. How does it have anything to do with 2020?!
Also the €10 million for the expansion of the City Museum is also apparently part of the legacy?!

"G2020 will cease to exist in 2021, but a special sub-committee of the Board has been established with the aim of identifying the range of legacies that can result from the programmes, and to explore future legacy policies that rely on the views and needs voiced by the people."

Storm 10

Saw that about the Art house and the Museum does anyone in the City Council take them up on this my understanding of 2020 was a year of new things happening in the County and City it's a joke .

AwaitYourReply

flazio wrote: »

I have a fear that in order to adjust to the funding cuts, events set for the county towns will be cancelled and the entire event becomes entirely city based.

I hear what you are saying although; it has been obvious for quite some time that there has been much controversy regarding various issues such as the funding allocations etc;

Ideally it would be nice to lift city & county but I just took a look at the definition of this event and this is just some of what it says on Wikipedia page on the subject of this European Union annual event.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Capital_of_Culture

"A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension.

Preparing a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for the city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city's image and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale..."

Galway 2020 is to be congratulated for securing this prestigious designation some years ago which is now upon us. Unfortunately, the preparations have been surrounded in a lot of negative publicity. I recall Cork City was European Capital of Culture in 2005 and there were similar issues mainly around funding.

Galway 2020 needs to focus on the city itself for European Capital of Culture as it has enough challenges after it's original launch concept was forced indoors due to bad weather and it is clearly on a tight budget and risks spreading itself too thin if it tries to do too much. Launching anything to the public outdoors on this scale in a West Coast of Ireland location at this time of year should have anticipated that inclement weather would probably be a likely factor and this turned out to be the case. RTÉ One tv had 30 minutes highlights programme scheduled on Tuesday evening and it was replaced by a Home Improvements programme instead. Lost opportunity to showcase Galway 2020 as I gather they had a soft launch indoors which did not enjoy the same level of publicity from RTÉ tv.

ChewyLouie

Are those Galway 2020 banner flags that they put up on lamp posts last week meant to last the year? Most are already broken and in shreds from the wind...

Tribesman West

Our elected City Councillors and County Councillors as well as the newly elected TDs need to look for some kind of accountability from the organisers on behalf of the public they represent.

Whereisgalway

Tribesman West wrote: »

Our elected City Councillors and County Councillors as well as the newly elected TDs need to look for some kind of accountability from the organisers on behalf of the public they represent.

Catherine Connolly team told me if I gave her my number this is one of the things she’d look into when they called to my door. Hope she stays true to her word this time round

spurshero

Whereisgalway wrote: »

Catherine Connolly team told me if I gave her my number this is one of the things she’d look into when they called to my door. Hope she stays true to her word this time round

From what I heard they looked for 2.5 million on Monday but this wouldn’t be granted unless they would provide proof of where the last chunk of money they got was spent . The organisers wouldn’t do this so money was refused and rightfully so in my opinion .

JohnCleary

spurshero wrote: »

From what I heard they looked for 2.5 million on Monday but this wouldn’t be granted unless they would provide proof of where the last chunk of money they got was spent . The organisers wouldn’t do this so money was refused and rightfully so in my opinion .

I can imagine it went something along the lines of....

2020: "Give us more money"

Council: "What did you do with the money you have already received?"

2020: "*pause* .... Give us more money"