Fáilte Ireland today announced that it has allocated €100,250 in funding to 25 festivals in County Cork, as part its 2017 Regional Festivals & Participative Events Programme.  
 
The festivals being funded by Fáilte Ireland include:

Cork Midsummer Festival - €18,000
Cork Film Festival - €9,500
A Taste of West Cork Festival - €9,500
Litfest, Ballymaloe - €7,000
Fastnet Film Festival - €6,000
Cork Folk Festival - €5,000
Cork Harbour Festival & Ocean to City - €5,000
Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival - €5,000
Munster Fleadh Cheoil 2017 - €4,000
Cork Craft Month 2017 - €3,000
Summer on the West Cork Islands - €3,000
Bantry Mussel Fair - €3,000
Jim Dowling Uileann Pipe and Trad Festival - €3,000
Medley of Festivals & Events - €3,000
West Cork Rally - €3,000
Masters of Tradition - €3,000
Racing Home for Easter Festival - €2,000
Baltimore Fiddle Fair - €1,250
Midleton Food and Drink Festival - €1,000
Cork Comedy Festival - €1,000
Seafood & Shanty Ballycotton - €1,000
Cloyne Music Fest - €1,000
Skibbereen Arts Festival - €1,000
Schull Regatta - €1,000
West Cork History Festival - €1,000
 
Announcing the funding, Minister of State for Tourism Patrick O’Donovan, said: “The funding announced today will allow Cork to broaden its appeal to overseas visitors and can provide a boost to tourism activity in the locality which is good news for the local economy and employment.”  

Festivals and events provide a great motivation for visitors to travel around Ireland and add another dimension to the tourist experience on the ground. They are the life-blood of tourism and mobilise many visitors to choose to come to Ireland in the first instance”
 
Fáilte Ireland provides grant funding to local festivals which apply to its Regional Festivals and Participative Events Programme. The programme is reviewed every year with a view to generating incremental visitor growth and revenue. The focus for festivals in 2017 is on growing tourism demand outside the peak season and to spread and grow tourism demand more evenly across the country.
 
Speaking today Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, emphasised the importance of festivals for Ireland and the tourism sector: “Fáilte Ireland is very much committed to a greater spread of regional activity as well as supporting a longer tourism year. Festivals - which can take place anywhere and at any time of the year - are very much a part of this focus on greater regionality and seasonality.”