Richard Tierney, the CEO of St. Patrick’s Festival, has called for the passenger cap at Dublin airport to be raised. “Our stance is that we would welcome anything that is going to increase the footfall of inbound visitors. From an economic perspective, they really do have a bit to spend.”
The event, expected to bring 550,000 visitors in Dublin, up from 530,000 last year, aims to become less reliant on public funding, with Tierney working towards a goal of being 50pc funded by the public purse instead of the current 65pc-70pc..
Key sponsors like Kia have returned, with brands like Nomadic and Tayto also associating themselves with the festival.
The festival faces rising costs due to inflation and other factors, but continues to attract large numbers of international tourists.
Despite challenges like capacity issues and previous negative publicity, the festival aims to showcase Dublin as a vibrant and welcoming city. “We need to maintain the grassroots of the festival in terms of community pageants and participants.”
