Minutes:
The Chairperson advised the Members that Mr. K. Gamble, Director of Féile an Phobail, and Mr. R. Crowe, Copius Consulting, were in attendance to provide the Members with a summary of the consultation which had been carried out in relation to the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Belfast, and they were admitted to the meeting.
In response to a Member’s question, the Chairperson clarified that the title on the agenda, namely “Fáilte Feirste Thiar”, had been incorrect and that the presentation was in fact from Féile an Phobail and Copius Consulting.
Mr. Gamble explained that Féile an Phobail had been allocated Council funding in order to carry out work on the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the city and to look at how the city could encourage visitors to stay in the city for longer periods. He explained that Féile had commissioned Copius Consulting to carry out research as part of this work.
Mr. Crowe provided the Committee with an overview of the quantitative and qualitative findings from the consultation, which included participants who had and who had not attended the St. Patrick’s Day events in Belfast in the past three years. He also advised that businesses had been consulted about the events.
The Members were advised of the following key qualitative findings:
· the city should be making a greater effort for the festivities for the week leading up to St. Patrick’s Day while encouraging the greater Belfast area to get involved in the parades;
· the city centre and parade should be more festive for the events, including global greening, street bunting and more street entertainment;
· the event(s) should last longer than just the parade and concert, a day of celebrations;
· more emphasis on community involvement with the parade;
· better policing and management of underage drinkers and anti-social behaviour; and
· more activities for children, similar to Culture Night.
Mr. Crowe described the successful activities which were held annually in Dublin, Downpatrick and New York to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and explained that Belfast should learn from those as examples of Best Practice. He stated that the natural next step for Belfast would be the creation of a Partnership approach to the celebrations, where resources could be shared amongst key partners, such as financial, human, skills, venues and equipment.
A number of Members stated that it was promising to hear new and creative ideas around the city’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and that Belfast should seek to attract many more tourists to the city for the celebrations. Other Members suggested that there was a lack of cross-community participation in the events and that they had some concerns in relation to the proposed “greening” of Belfast. The point was also made that activities to engage those aged 15 – 17 should be a priority, particularly in relation to the anti-social behaviour which had taken place in the Holylands area of the city.
The Chairperson thanked the representatives for their presentation and they retired from the meeting.
After discussion, the Committee noted that a report would be submitted to a future meeting to include the full report on St. Patrick’s Day which had been commissioned by the Council.