Local authority urged to ‘take the lead’ after necessary funding not provided for festival

The council has been urged to ‘take the lead’ to ensure that events in Cherry Orchard and other areas go ahead after news that Cherry Blossoms Community Festival will not.

The city council have been questioned over their decision not to provide “necessary funding” to the Cherry Blossoms Community Festival this year, which has led to its cancellation, according to a statement from the festival committee.

The month-long festival was held every April in Cherry Orchard, and a range of events took place, from crafts workshops to parkruns and more.

Councillor Vincent Jackson lamented the loss of the local festival and called for more to be done by the local authority to protect events like these.

Cllr Jackson: “We have lost the Cherry Blossoms festival now at the present…it took a number of years and it was a response to some very serious antisocial issues that were happening in the area of Cherry Orchard.

“I feel that’s a very regressive step that people feel that we, as a corporate entity, don’t value what’s happening.

“Now, I know I’m going to be told, ‘we do, we do’, I’m just saying we haven’t handled ourselves very well in this.”

The issue of a lack of older person’s projects in Ballyfermot in recent months was also raised and the council noted they were happy to support events for older people but questioned who would organise it.

The work to deliver festivals over the past few years was commended by multiple councillors but the council was urged to start “taking the lead” on ensuring events are delivered by Cllr Jackson.

He noted that many older people “do not have the capacity” to organise such events as bingo nights on their own, and noted the price of prizes as an example of something that may be out of their reach.

A meeting recently that discussed events planned for the year ahead in Ballyfermot library was described as “difficult” by Councillor Daithí Doolan.

Cllr Doolan told Dublin City Council that this year’s festival planning has then “a serious knock” on their end compared to previous years.

He said: “That relationship between Dublin City Council and the residents and the wider community and the elected reps has taken a serious knock.

“We worked very hard to build those relationships to overcome the challenges in our community and sometimes…a bureaucratic response, a rigid rules-based response, a policy-only response isn’t always conducive to building those relationships and building community development.”

Cllr Doolan called for “flexibility” from the council in their approach to working alongside communities to deliver projects.

He also asked for a meeting between community development staff, senior managmement, elected representatives and others to discuss how to move forward.

A statement from the Cherry Blossoms Community Festival committee said that they are reliant on the funding to put on the events.

It reads: “Unfortunately, we could not secure the necessary funding in time to be able plan and run the events together. The Cherry Blossoms Festival is a collective effort of community and services who have delivered a month-long festival in Cherry Orchard for the last 4 years.

“We do hope the festival can return in 2027, but we are ultimately reliant on the security of funding.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.