SOCIAL Democrat councillors Elisa O’Donovan and Shane Hickey-O’Mara make a joint statement on responsibility for Limerick’s festivals and events.
The councillors are calling for responsibility for festivals and events to be returned to Limerick City and County Council’s Arts and Culture structures. They are also seeking additional resources for the Arts Office and a more sustainable funding model for community and cultural organisations.
In a joint statement, the councillors say independent festivals, arts organisations and community groups should have a greater say in how Limerick’s cultural activities are planned and supported.
As part of the forthcoming council budget, they are seeking additional staffing and resources for the Limerick Arts Office, which Cllr Hickey-O’Mara says is under increasing pressure while community organisations are struggling to maintain their work.
“As it stands, the Arts Office are an increasingly small team trying to do so much for Limerick with so little, Festivals and Events have ended up under Economic Development hoping to be ‘economically viable’ enough to be worth it, and many Community groups are struggling to get by, increasingly relying on municipal funding to survive.”
Decisions relating to festivals and events based on their ‘economic viability,’ is of considerable concern for the councillors, who “fundamentally disagree” with this defining measure of cultural and community events, arguing that the wider cultural and social value must also be recognised.
“There’s no Limerick city or county without our Cultural, Arts, Sports, Heritage or Community groups, they’re such a vital part of our city and county,” Cllr Hickey-O’Mara says.
The councillors point to changes since 2024, when major council-supported programmes, including Summer in the City, Halloween and Christmas in Limerick, came under the council’s Economic Development and Tourism structures rather than being centred within Arts and Culture.
Their call comes amid debate about the council’s approach to festivals following the cancellation of Lumen Street Theatre’s annual Samhain parade for 2026 after a funding dispute. The council has said it made “considerable efforts” to deliver a Halloween procession through an open-call process.
“We don’t know what’s around the corner, but we know that when times get tough community groups & cultural workers are often hit first,” Cllr Hickey-O’Mara says.
The councillors are calling for a broader discussion within the council about how independent festivals, cultural organisations, and grassroots initiatives can be supported in the coming years.