Cork 2005 - Vital to whip up interest in premier event

WITH only three weeks left before Cork dons its crown as European Capital of Culture, the lack of public information about the prestigious event is, to put it mildly, disturbing.

It is palpably obvious the organisers have failed to catch the imagination of the man and woman in the street where, unfortunately, cynicism about the event is rife. Constant rumours of internal squabbling and budget overruns are not helping.

If anything, days before the curtain rises, they are undermining what promised to be a major cultural happening. For whatever reason, there has been a perplexing failure to capitalise on the groundswell of anticipation and goodwill that greeted Cork’s designation as the premier cultural venue in Europe for the coming year.

Despite all the hopes and all the talk, and despite the initial buzz when local communities were intimately drawn into planning the event, there are fears it could fizzle out before it even begins.

The organisers urgently need to whip up popular interest in Cork 2005.