Waterford praised for Tall Ships’ success

WATERFORD’S hosting of the Tall Ships Races 2011 has been overwhelmingly praised for its success, which saw up to 500,000 spectators in the city over the four-day festival ending on Sunday.

Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, Redmond O’Donoghue, yesterday said the festival was “an awesome success”.

The celebrations had “captured the imagination of the country and appealed across generations and demographics” as Waterford hosted the largest number of people ever assembled in the almost 1,100-year history of Ireland’s oldest city, he said.

“What we saw in Waterford while the visiting tall ships were in port and along the Suir Estuary for Sunday’s Parade of Sail was a reminder of all that is best about Ireland and our special relationship with the seas that surround our small island.”

An estimated 100,000 people turned out along the south eastern coastline to see the ships leave for Greenock in Scotland, the first leg of the races.

The Tall Ships Races are organised by Sail Training International, a charity established to harness sail training to develop and educate young people regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background.

All of those who worked so hard to deliver a very diverse programme of activity to tie in with the Tall Ships returning to Waterford should be very proud of the role they have played in delivering this awesome success, said Mr O’Donoghue.

He added: “The media coverage was terrifically positive and sustained across several days with front page coverage and great inside spreads in key national newspapers, as well as special broadcasts from the city by RTÉ and other broadcasters.

“To have media outlets from countries as diverse as Sweden and India shining a spotlight on Waterford at its brilliant best is a tremendous opportunity that the city will continue to benefit from, he said.”

Des Whelan, chairman of the Tall Ships Races 2011 (Waterford) added: “To all of those involved, I say a big ‘Thank You’ and I similarly want to again record our appreciation of all those who partnered with and sponsored our hosting of The Tall Ships Races.

“It’s been a tremendous piece of work to lead with the dynamic and hard-working project manager, Olivia O’Reilly, over the last two years. The feedback from visitors and from the media who came here to cover the festival was overwhelmingly positive, while Sail Training International were also very upbeat in their appraisal of Waterford as a host port.”

Event controller, Lar Power, said: “What we saw coming together over the four days was a great example of teamwork with countless people working as a united group to bring all the aspects together.”

Sgt Gavin Hegarty, said: “I want to say a sincere thanks to the public for their cooperation.

“From a crime and public order perspective, we experienced no major issues and certainly nothing that would be considered remarkable for such a huge gathering,” he added.