FIANNA Fáil councillor Bridie Collins believes there hasn’t been enough discussion with the local community in Adare, who believe all their bills will be paid on the back of the 2027 Ryder Cup.
Speaking at this week’s full meeting of Limerick City and County Council (LCCCC), the Adare woman claimed that there hasn’t been enough guidance to what the village will look like during the event – being held in Adare Manor – or what purpose it will serve.
During a presentation from LCCC’s Ryder Cup Coordinator, Elaine O’Connor, Cllr Collins, a former green keeper at Mount Juliet in Kilkenny, expressed disappointment that this was councillors’ first time getting an update from her, after a year in the role.
“I would hope this would be a much more frequent event. I didn’t know you in the room although you’ve been in the role for over a year. I find that a wee bit disappointing, particularly since I sit in Adare,” she told Ms O’Connor.
Cllr Collins took the view that the village of Adare may need to be pedestrianised during what is considered one of the world’s biggest sporting events after the Olympics and World Cup. She also suggested staging a Fringe Festival in the West Limerick tourist hotspot or in the city during the centenary Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in two years time.
The Fianna Fáil woman also called for a passenger link to Adare ahead of the prestigious golfing tournament.
“Community engagement needs to be had. That hasn’t happened so far. I would request public meetings between the Council, the Ryder Cup team and the actual community itself. You’re going to need something like 1,500 volunteers to run the actual event, and that has to be organised,” she said.
The Adare representative went on to point to huge expectation in the local community and suggested that more regular updates were now needed.
“Everybody thinks all their bills are going to be paid and that every single roof is going to be replaced. That expectation is within the village, so if it cannot be met, we need to know that now. Everybody thinks they’re going to gain out of the Ryder Cup, so the reality of the expectation needs to be met.”
Fine Gael councillor Adam Teskey agreed that there’s an unfair expectation locally that all the bills are going to be paid on the back of the Ryder Cup in Adare.
“That expectation needs to be quashed and brought into the realisation that there isn’t an open cheque book,” he insisted.
Elaine O’Connor, the Council’s Ryder Cup Coordinator told council members that 201 countries worldwide view the sporting spectacle with 100 countries represented at the actual event.
“The Rome event in 2023 was the most watched Ryder Cup and Sky Sports had 3.7 million viewers tuning in. In terms of guests, 57,000 attended the event every day in Rome, with the biggest attendance ever on record,” she enthused.
The economic impact, councillors were informed, saw 32,000 room nights used in Rome at the last Ryder Cup. The event was worth €213 million to Italy a rise from €154 million in France, when it was previously held in Europe in 2018.
“Bear in mind, it has been held in capital cities that have the infrastructure to deal with the scale of the event. We will have challenges as a result of Limerick being a smaller city within a smaller country. That brings its own challenges in terms of logistics.”
