Figures provided to TD Carol Nolan (Ind) show that the Department of Rural and Community Development has given a grant of €200,000 to a festival to be held later this year in Wicklow.
Festival organisers described the Great Gathering as a “a fusion of delicious foods and gripping conversations” which will offer attendees the opportunity to “Satiate both your hunger for food and thirst for knowledge” The manifesto launched by the festival calls on all “bon viveurs, connoisseurs, epicurean adventurers, readers, ruminators” and “would-be emperors” to attend.
The funding was provided to the festival through the LEADER programme, which is operated by the Department as part of Project Ireland 2040. Minister Heather Humphreys said the programme was a “key intervention which will help to underpin the Government’s rural development goals.” It appears that the festival was given the grant as part of an initiative to support the development of Irish food and drink producers.
The festival is being held in association with the Irish Times, and nearly a dozen of their writers will be speaking at event. Other speakers at the event range from television chef Rachael Allen to documentary film maker Jon Ronson to Kinzen’s Mark Little.
Tickets for the full event cost €130-180 per person.