BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

TV personalities Dara Ó Briain and the Après Match team are among dozens of people ‘left in the lurch’ as part of the €400,000 debt left behind by the organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race grand finale, the Sentinel can reveal.

They are among around 50 creditors who are unlikely to be paid unless Let’s Do It Global (LDIG) can secure a Government bailout of €300,000 to help cover their debts.

This newspaper has learned that many of the entertainers hired for the Global Village arena at South Park – which were ticketed events – have not been paid, despite ticket prices of around €25 per head, while suppliers have also been left out of pocket.

Stand-up comic and presenter Dara Ó Briain is owed around €6,000 for his sell-out show, while the team from RTE’s Après Match comedy sketch show is owed more than €8,000.

Former RTE presenter Derek Davis is owed €1,500.

Slovakian violinist Vladimir Jablokov and his Orchestra are owed more than €10,000 for their ‘Afternoon in Vienna’ performance and Irish percussion ensemble Extreme Rhythm are owed €16,000.

Suppliers for the grand finale are also owed considerable sums of money – a marquee company is owed around €40,000 and a lighting company €30,000, while other floor, stage sound, video and display companies are owed amounts varying from €800 up to €25,000.

It’s understood the Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill is owed almost €20,000.

Alan Collins of Exhibit A Displays in Tralee is owed almost €10,000, and previously parked a 25ft wide trailer sign outside LDIG’s office in an effort to shame the group into paying their debt.

Last month, our sister newspaper the Galway City Tribune revealed that LDIG had applied to the Department of Tourism and Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for a ‘bailout’ of up to €300,000. The group itself is owed €170,000 by debtors, which it has admitted may not be paid.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel