Westmeath's mid-table Gathering performance

Westmeath ranked a disappointing 14th out of 26 counties when it came to the number of events organised for last year’s Gathering.

That’s according to a recently published support organised by the national organisers of the year-long initiative to attract visitors to Ireland. While Gathering events were organised in every town and village in the county, the report revealed that in terms of registered events Westmeath’s performance was mid-table.

In total, there were around 40 registered events in Westmeath that received funding allocated by Westmeath County Council. Among the events that benefited from the funding – which ranged from €500 up to €30,000 – were the McDermott Family Reunion held in August, the Mullingar 5K Gathering Road Race (June) and the Fore Pilgrim Gathering Trail (July).

While the council are currently evaluating the impact that the Gathering had on the local tourism industry, Westmeath and Kerry have been chosen by the national organiser as the two counties that will be visited by researchers from the Dublin of Institute of Technology to ascertain the economic and social benefits of the initiative.

According to the compilers of the report, Westmeath was chosen along with Kerry, “a county with a long established reputation as a leading tourism area”, because “it [Westmeath] is a county which is less strongly associated with tourism”. The DIT researchers, who are due to visit the county in the coming weeks, will conduct focus groups and short surveys with people to get their views.

County Longford topped the table in terms of events per head of population followed by Leitrim, while Meath and Kildare occupied the bottom two places.

The report also claims that between 250,000 and 275,000 overseas visitors travelled to Ireland specifically because of the Gathering, contributing €170m to the Irish economy. In total there were 5,000 official Gathering events held throughout 2013.