Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said before, when I was appointed Minister, I visited Limerick on several occasions to open art exhibitions and venues. It struck me then that the wider perception of Limerick did not reflect the level of activity in the artistic, cultural and heritage areas in the city. I had discussions with the three main education institutions there, the arts community on two occasions, the Chamber of Commerce and the regeneration group on how we could use culture to improve the image of Limerick and help with its regeneration. They responded by coming forward with a very good proposal, namely that Limerick could be designated as the 2014 city of culture to coincide with the change of governance in Limerick and the significant amount of money being spent by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and Limerick City Council on the city’s physical regeneration. We wanted a cultural regeneration to accompany that. I then presented a proposal that there would be a national city of culture programme starting with Limerick. I accept there was no competition.

I am delighted, however, that several cities have inquired of my Department and directly of myself, expressing an interest in the next designation of city of culture and ensuring they will have ample opportunity to apply for it. That was the process and it goes down to this time in Limerick when it was going through major change in regeneration and governance.

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