Galway’s designation as European Capital of Culture for 2020 provided an opportunity to strengthen and promote our culture nationally and internationally. Departmental support of €15million was included by Government in Project Ireland 2040. Government funding was provided in two stages, €14million to support the delivery of the cultural programme of the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture (of which the final drawdown completed in November 2020); and €1million to support its’ Legacy Programme.
The final drawdown of the €1 million funding under the Galway European Capital of Culture Legacy Programme was paid to Galway Culture Company on 17th July 2024.
In line with the Performance Delivery Agreement (PDA) between my Department and Galway Culture Company, monitoring and evaluation requirements included an external evaluation of the programme and an independent auditor’s review, as well as regular monitoring meetings. The PDA also set out the key performance indicators and grant drawdown requirements for the programme.
I received the final reporting on the programme in June 2025 and welcomed the analysis made by the independent evaluators, the Audience Agency, that Galway Culture Company;
“delivered a successful programme using a budget of €1m, in an effective and efficient way, demonstrating transparency in the way this has been administered and meeting its obligations as stated in the Performance Delivery Agreement with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.”
The final analysis of the spending found that the budget of €1m was allocated as follows:
• €191,920 under strategic objective 1, which aimed to ‘To facilitate international and EU relationships and funding’
• €537,413 under strategic objective 2, ‘To support place based cultural programming’
• €270,668 under strategic objective 3, ‘To provide supports to the cultural and creative sector’
In line with the Performance Delivery Agreements, the Department also received quarterly management accounts and independent auditor’s reports from Galway 2020 related to the Departmental funding. The final independent auditor’s report covering the programme noted that Galway 2020 followed best practice in transparency, accountability and secured value for money.
Galway Culture Company informed the Department at a meeting on 30 May 2025, that it was in discussion with the local authorities and various partners on the future of the company following completion of all actions associated with the European Capital of Culture.
I would note that any future role for Galway Culture Company would be entirely independent of work supported by this Department through the Performance Delivery Agreement above. Following the completion of the legacy programme, this Department has no active funding relationship with Galway Culture Company, and no further allocation of funding is currently planned.
