BY BERNIE NÍ FHLATHARTA

 
Galway may be in the running to become a European capital of culture in eight years’ time when it will be Ireland’s turn to host the title again.

In 2020, Ireland and Croatia will each host a cultural capital – and it is more than likely that Galway will pitch to be the Irish city.

Representatives from Local Authorities in Galway, Waterford and Limerick were invited to a European Cultural Conference in Brussels last week, where it was announced that because the EU has increased in size they now choose two countries.

In 2005, Galway lost out to Cork who won the bid to be the European City of Culture. That title has changed to European Capital of Culture and the successful bidder will be given €1.5million funding from Europe towards the cost of the year long programme of events.

It is believed that though Galway City Council hasn’t yet had an opportunity to even discuss the matter, that the City of the Tribes would be in with a good chance, because of its reputation at home and abroad as a city of festivals.

The tourism and economic benefits to Galway, if it were to be chosen, would be on average a 10% rise in tourist numbers and an €8 return for every euro spent on investing in the year.

This year, according to what was revealed at the conference in Brussels, the emphasis is on linguistic diversity. With Galway already being officially recognised as a bi-lingual city because of the Irish language, it would seem as if the city has a leg in on that score.

For more on this story, see The Sentinel.