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Fireworks ticket fiasco sparks protest fears Councillors in Wexford have denounced the handling of the decision to make the Wexford Festival Opera Fireworks Display an all ticket affair as a fiasco and they have urged those who have threated to force their way onto the quayfront to stay away from the re-arranged event on the closing night of the festival. Controversy has raged since it was announced that people would require tickets to take their place on the quayfront for the fireworks display with councillors coming in for scathing social media criticism, much of it of a vile personal nature. And some members of the public have warned that they will uphold the right to free attendance at the fifty year plus tradition by forcing their way onto the quayfront on the night of the fireworks. The initial threats were made when the fireworks were due to take place on the opening
night of the festival but the entire event was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. Now it to be held on Sunday November 5th at 8pm to mark the closing of the event. At a meeting of the Wexford Municipal Council this week members were seething over the fact that they were left in the dark about the problems surrounding the festival opening and the fact they received the criticism despite the reality that they were not at fault for what was described by many as a fiasco. Wexford Festival Opera, who are the organisers of the opening ceremony, were totally to blame for the problems because they failed to apply for any licence to hold the event. With no licence in place the entire fireworks display would have been cancelled unless some way was found to control numbers at 5,000.
So it was either a ticket affair or no fireworks, the Wexford District Director Tony Larkin told councillors at their October meeting. He also revealed that the Council had a very good working relationship with the Festival Opera and recognised the massive contribution the festival made to the local economy. It appears that the desire to preserve this relationship meant that council officials were reluctant to hang festival bosses out to dry on the matter. The result was that councillors got the blame and they vented their anger over the issue this week. Councillors Anthony Kelly and Davy Hynes led the charge. Kelly said the organisers had ‘created a fiasco’ over the tickets and Hynes slammed the fact that councillors were never consulted on the matter and he described it was a ‘slap in the face’ for public representatives.
Cllr. Frank Staples said councillors should have been informed of the situation. ‘As councillors were are expected to know what is going on’, he declared. Cllr. Ger Carthy revealed that there had been problems meeting all the licencing conditions in previous years and on one occasion everything had not been sorted out until the 11th hour. Cllr. Lisa McDonald described the whole affair as a PR disaster but she appealed to everyone to allow children enjoy the event on closing night and stay away rather than cause difficulties. Mayor Jim Moore issued a similar plea calling for no nastiness so that people could enjoy the family occasion that is the fireworks. Director of Services Tony Larkin said he believed the ticketing would be a once off solution and would not be repeated in 2018.
Main Street work may start before Christmas After years of complaints action is to be taken to deal with the problem of Wexford Main Street’s slippery surface. There have been complaints for years about people suffering injuries on the street but there has never been an acceptance that there is any problem with the surface. Now, however, work to tackle the issue may begin before Christmas. District Director Tony Larkin told the October meeting of the Municipal
District Council that retexturing of the surface and the replacement of some of the gullies, particularly in North Main Street is planned. The plan has not yet been finalised but it could start very soon and is likely to take place before Christmas. Council officials are anxious to avoid any disruption of the retail trade and plan to undertake the work either in the evening or with a 5.30am start each morning.
Tony still a crowd-puller It may be many years since he was a big star of Wexford hurling but Tony Doran demonstrated this week that he is still a crowd puller when a big
Above:Tony shares a joke with Ali Pendergast,The Ballagh. Right: Tony with young supporter Ruth Fenlon
attendance showed up in the Riverside park Hotel in Enniscorthy on Monday night for the launch of his autobiography 'A Land of Men and Giants