Kilkenny’s new civic spaces including the Parade and the Canal Bank Square must not be used for just the sake of using the space but should be kept for quality events.
That is according to Cllr Betty Manning who was speaking at this month’s meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council.
She said, “I’d prefer to see nothing taking place in theses spaces rather than the wrong thing. We shouldn’t need to have something there but what is hosted in these spaces should be of quality.”
Cllr Manning was also adamant that selling and events should be segregated on the Parade Plaza with selling events such as the Farmers’ Markets taking place on the Mayors Walk and entertainment and events to be hosted on the plaza.
“There is no need to have something on the space all the time — and it would become mundane if this were to be the case,” said Cllr Manning.
Cllr Paul Cuddihy added that it is important that the civic spaces are used by the public. “There is a temptation to put these spaces in a glass case and throw sugar at it but these venues are a huge advantage for Kilkenny and a huge improvement to the city and people have been commenting favourably on them. However we do need a protocol to bring together a set of proposals for usage.”
Kilkenny Borough Council has begun developing policies for the use of civic spaces for events and it was agreed by the members this week that the development of a logo, a protocol for the use of the space and a health and safety statement that would be required from groups seeking to use the space would be necessary to meet the requirements of the council prior to the use of the space.
Currently there are still unresolved issues in relation to health and safety, insurance, maintenance, public access and service provision, which all need to be ironed out.
Cllr Malcolm Noonan said, “this has been the first full year of trading so there were bound to be a few problems but looking towards 2001 it might be a good idea for the council to make an investment in a small PA system to provide to groups for concerts.”
He added, “also the Farmer’s Markets should be on the Parade Plaza too. And next year, we need to spark more interest in the Christmas Markets by creating an identity and a logo etc.”
