€50,000 in the pot to spend on Laois festivals this year

Laois County Council couldn't spend its summer festival budget last year thanks to Covid -19 restrictions on communities, so the good news is it is carried over to ensure we all have a better time this summer.

The council grants the money to help local organisations and communities to put on public festivals such as the Durrow Scarecrow festival, the Old Fort festival in Portlaoise and the Stradbally Steam Rally among many others.

Some €50,524 of a Covid Contingency Fund has been carried over in the accounts from 2021 to 2022, which Director of Services for Finance Gerry Murphy explained is the unspent festivals and events budget.

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"We had very few festivals in 2020 or 2021. Already in 2022 we are seeing a very big impact as communities want to get back to normal, we saw that with St Patrick's day and we expect more requests for funding. We want to be able to help by having that savings in place," he said.

He spoke at the March meeting of Laois County Council where the council's annual financial statement was approved.

Last year the council spent over €84 million in running the county, ending in the black with over €9 million carried over in Capital Expenditure, and over €145,000 in their Revenue account.