Budget plea to save NI event firm

The British government is expected to make its final decision on the draft budget for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure next month.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Northern Ireland Event Company chief executive Janice McAleese and chairman Mervyn Elder called on the organisers of arts festivals and sports events in Northern Ireland to bombard the Culture Minister Angela Smith with personal correspondence by December 7, requesting that funding is reinstated.

The organisers of the North West 200 motor cycle road race meeting and the Milk Cup youth soccer tournament have claimed that if the events company folds, it would mean they will have to ditch plans to expand the event.

Peter Makem, of the Tommy Makem Festival of Song in South Armagh, also condemned the proposal.

“It is like cutting out your heart to save a toe,” he claimed.

Members of the arts community and sporting bodies have argued that the Northern Ireland Events Company had been able to generate thousands of pounds in tourist trade for the Northern Ireland economy as well as towns and villages all over the province.

Events companies in Scotland and the Irish Republic have also seen their budgets swell while Northern Ireland’s company is being cut.