ST PATRICKS Day festivities in Enniskillen and Omagh are to receive an additional boost of £10,000.
At the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) Regeneration and Community committee last night councillors approved the additional funding for the 2026 events across the district.
An independent economic assessment estimated that last year’s celebrations were worth around £1.4m and £380,000 to the local economies in Enniskillen and Omagh respectively.
Organisers of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in both towns now want to run events over two days, and had asked the Fermanagh and Omagh District for an extra £10,000 towards the costs of the extended programmes.
A report brought before last night’s meeting stated that the total cost of organising the St Patrick’s celebrations in Enniskillen last year was £46,000.
The council provided £23,000 of this, with the rest coming from Enniskillen Business Improvement District (BID) and local businesses.
The report added: “An additional £10,000 has been requested from the Council to support development of the two-day format, meet rising operational costs linked to increased parade attendance and delivery of the evening event, and maintain momentum, growth, and community engagement.”
The report stated that the extra £20,000 required to support the St Patrick’s events in Omagh and Enniskillen could be met from ‘projected underspends within the 2025/26 Sponsorship Budget’.
Proposing the motion at last night’s meeting to support the additional council funding for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, Alliance councillor Stephen Donnelly highlighted the ‘growing success’ of participation in the St Patrick’s Day event in Omagh.
“(This is) a testament to the work that has been going on over years that within Omagh, we have seen quite a transformation in terms of engagement with Saint Patrick’s Day events.
“It is actually quite significant by comparison to pre-Covid and it shows that we are able to bring more people to Omagh for this event,” said Cllr Donnelly.
“There has been that ongoing question as to how we maximise that range of community engagement and participation within the festival itself.
“I think there has been growing success in this and the proposed additional funding should hopefully help with further bolstering that.”
Cllr Donnelly added, “As a councillor in Omagh one of the things I do take enormous encouragement from is that in recent years there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback to the festivities and in any situation issues have been raised council officers have been proactive in addressing those as fast as possible.”
The proposal was seconded by Ulster Unionist Party Councillor Rosemary Barton and passed by the committee.
