Council s £30,000 plan for Saint’s Day consultants

Council s £30,000 plan for Saint’s Day consultants

21 December 2016

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council has decided against appointing outside consultants to organise next year’s St Patrick’s Day festival parade in Downpatrick.

The Recorder revealed at the start of the month that the local authority was considering appointing consultants to organise the flagship tourist event for the first time.

The high profile cross-community parade — which attracts thousands of people to the town — has traditionally been organised by local council staff, but changes were being suggested ahead of next year’s event.

Key staff who previously organised festival parades in Downpatrick and Newry are no longer available as a result of changes to the council’s management structure so local authority officials suggested outside consultants could be brought in to organise the main events.

However, at a meeting of the local authority’s Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee last week, it was agreed to keep the organisation of the festival in-house.

It’s understood a £330,000 budget has been earmarked for next year’s St Patrick’s celebrations across the district, with £90,000 earmarked for the festival parades in Downpatrick and Newry.

Politicians who were opposed to allowing the organisation of the parade to be handled by outside consultants said it was their understanding the cost of the exercise could be in the region of £30,000.

Councillor Gareth Sharvin has welcomed the decision to retain the organisation of the festival parade in-house. He feared that bringing in an outside consultant who would not necessarily know the area and the local communities would be wrong.

“I welcome the fact the festival parade will be organised by local council staff who are familiar with the area. I was concerned that appointing an external consultant had the potential to lose the connectivity between the event and the community, not to mention the impact on the budget which has been set aside for the event,” said councillor Sharvin.

“I believe it is important that where possible, the organisation of major events requires the expertise of our local council staff. While those who previously ran the St Patrick’s Day festival parade in Downpatrick are no longer available, we still have people available who were involved and their talent must be utilised.”

Councillor Sharvin added: “It is important that every penny allocated for festivals across our district is spent on ensuring their success. To maximise the budget that means organising the events in-house.”

A council spokeswoman said the organisation has decided not to appoint a production company and will continue to utilise internal resource to organise next year’s St Patrick’s festival in Downpatrick.