Archive - Tight security for Beer Festival in Kilkenny (1973)

The security arrangements which were so successful during last year’s Kilkenny Beer Festival will be in operation again for this year’s event which begins on Sunday.

Ald M McGuinness, who is festival secretary, gave this information to the Corporation at their meeting on Monday.

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In addition to the extra Gardai in the city, he said, the Festival Committee were spending a very considerable sum of money on back-up security.

Camping arrangements will also be similar to last year. At the Fair Green there will be water and toilet facilities and all-night lighting. The Green will be supervised night and day, while food vans will be placed above the toilets on the Parade.

Festival chairman Mr Sean McManus says he is looking forward to a very successful week. He stresses that the committee has done everything possible to make the festival as much a family event as possible.

The many benefits to Kilkenny which have accrued from the Beer Festival were underlined by Mayor Kieran Crotty TD at a reception in the Guinness Brewery when details of the eight-day programme were announced.

“One thing that strikes me every year,” he said, “is that for some weeks before the Festival so many shops and businesses paint up their fronts. This started in a small way but it has become established now and Kilkenny looks all the better for it.

“People coming back to Kilkenny after a long time notice all the improvements. And to a large extent it was the Festival which provided the impetus.

“During the past few weeks I was speaking to some of my colleagues in the Dail that up to some years ago Kilkenny seemed to be an out of the way place. But now, many people heading for the South-East or South-West made a point of stopping in Kilkenny.

“The Festival has signposted Kilkenny. The city is now a place to go.

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“We now have a beautiful Castle Park,” he continued. “I remember as a young lad climbing over the walls to have a look at it. Now it is open to the public. Perhaps the Festival played a part in this too by drawing attention to the Castle through the Festival Club which used to be held here.”

Referring to security arrangements for Festival week, Mayor Crotty said he had been assured that they would be first class.

Consequently, Kilkenny would be a place to which people could come to enjoy themselves.