KILDARE GENERAL 21 January 2003: County Kildare Failte, which promotes tourism in Co Kildare, came under strong attack at Monday’s Budget 2003 meeting in Kildare County Council with a number of councillors wondering if they were getting good value for money.
The question was raised by Cllr Catherine Murphy who believed CKF are currently looking at developing their own website. She referred to the Kildare Community Network experts in the Council’s own HQ at St Mary’s, Naas who she said could set up the network for them. “You would see as much of a return if the money was spent on Tidy Towns rather than from brochures and the benefit of going to annual tourism fairs,” she said.
The Budget for the coming year allows for E69,836 to again be given to County Kildare Failte as in 2002.
The issue was also taken up by Senator John Dardis who said the County Council is not doing nearly enough to encourage the ‘huge community energy’ that exists in voluntary groups throughout the county. He
thought the E69,836 Kildare Failte grant would be better spent on helping Tidy Towns groups in Co Kildare.
“It would do far more for tourism in this county than is going on with Kildare Failte which doesn’t have the overall support of industry in the county,” he suggested. The Senator wanted an audit undertaken to assess the value given for the money granted to Co Kildare Failte by the Council, since the County Council also makes other contributions to the tourism sector. A provision of E60,000 is earmarked for the Tidy Towns to support local initiatives in Budget 2003.
