Republican News · Thursday 7 February 2002

Carnival Committee again seeks funding

The St Patrick's Day Carnival Committee is to meet Belfast City Council staff to discuss the possibility of getting funding for Belfast's St Patrick's Day Carnival this year.

The committee is to meet the head of the Economic Institute, Shirley McKay and the council's Director of Development, Marie-Therese McGovern.

The meeting was arrange after it was disclosed that the council's Policy and Resource Committee had voted to have £100,000 set aside to enable groups to celebrate the British Queen's Golden Jubilee.

The decision stands in stark contrast to the unionist-controlled council's persistent denial of funding to the St Patrick's Day Carnival.

The Carnival Committee hope that the same level of generosity will be afforded to those who wish to celebrate St Patrick's Day in Belfast City Centre.

"Whilst we welcome the allocation of money to allow people to celebrate their culture," said Carnival Chairperson Irene Sherry, "we hope that the council's policy of refusing to fund the St Patrick's Day Carnival is now a thing of the past.

"For the past three years we have been denied funding to celebrate Ireland's Patron Saint Day and we have had to resort to court action," she said.

Belfast City Council is supporting the bid to become European Capital of Culture in the year 2008 and is currently developing a tourist strategy, said Sherry, "but the committee of St Patrick's Day Carnival, which attracts 100,000 people to the city centre and has the potential to become an important tourist attraction, hasn't even been invited to participate in discussions".

A court hearing challenging the council's denial of funding to this year's planned carnival parade is set to deliver a judgment at Belfast High Court today, Thursday 7 February.