Diarmuid Gavins Sky Garden and Taxpayer.

T

TrundleAlong

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I couldn't believe when I read today that Fáilte Ireland had contributed €1.7 million to create his garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. Cork City Council had contributed €300k and the taxpayer might have to cough up another €100k. Why?
 
Marketing Ireland in the UK - Striking while the iron is hot - Backing the winning garden........
 
Eithneangela said:
Marketing Ireland in the UK - Striking while the iron is hot - Backing the winning garden........
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Before he entered there was no guarantee that he would win anything. So in my books a big gamble on taxpayers money. He won a gold medal but then again they dish these things out all over the place at Chelsea. In my opinion the only person who will gain from this will be Diarmuid Gavin. New gardening programme, books etc.

I would have preferred if the money went toward a piece of equipment for a hospital or similar.
 

Whether this brings in tourists to Ireland remains to be seen, but the 3 payments you refer to are all funded by the taxpayer.

Looking at the "garden" it is hard to see how this could have cost anything more than 500k (and that's a lot). 100K for design fees (it is unique), 300k to build (generous in my book) and 100K to bring over and back to the flower show with ancilliary expenses.
 
WaterWater said:
In my opinion the only person who will gain from this will be Diarmuid Gavin. New gardening programme, books etc.
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I agree. Any press reports I saw said that Diarmuid Gavin won a gold medal. I didn't know we paid for it until well after the event.
 
It really is a joke and just shows how cavalier government is when it comes to spending tax payers' money. Things like this make my blood boil. Does anybody really believe that anyone in Britain is going to say "that's a lovely garden, and it was sponsored by Fáilte Ireland, I'm going to go to Ireland".
 

Wonder will anyone buy the garden for €2m instead of coming to visit. We will have to store it with the e-voting machines otherwise.
 
Chris said:
Does anybody really believe that anyone in Britain is going to say "that's a lovely garden, and it was sponsored by Fáilte Ireland, I'm going to go to Ireland".
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Anyone really into gardening in Britian may have already seen the garden at the show anyway! It's a complete joke. We could have given 5,000 American's free return flights with that money. It just may have had a better return.
 

Why. Exactly.

Failte Ireland have stopped offering training courses to the unemployed.

The Footpaths in Cork are like they are in a war zone.

No comment from government.

People will come to Cork to see Diarmuid Gavins Sky Garden?

What planet are these people living on?
 
To pop on and play devil's advocate for a minute - is Diarmuid Gavin's garden not a reason to come to Cork to visit? We go to Paris to see the Eiffel tower, and Sydney to see the Opera house. All of these things cost money, but they pay back over time, in terms of visitors, and also in terms of civic pride. We will never build an Eiffel tower or a Sydney Opera house, so we do our best with what we have. Just throwing that out there...
 
Sunny said:
Any press reports I saw said that Diarmuid Gavin won a gold medal.
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On the BBC programme about Chelsea it was always referred to as Diarmuid Gavin's this and that also. Does anyone know if he will have a garden at Bloom in the Park this bank holiday weekend? I mean he is so famous I am sure that millions of U.K. tourists would travel to see it.
 
I just googled it there for a look - is it always hanging from a crane? Kind of ruins the effect to have a big crane beside it.
 
How will it work I mean do you just get to stand and look up at it or do you get to actually see it and walk into it? . Lets face it it's not going to work here, high winds, rain, insurance costs - there is no way that thing will remain suspended here. So then it's put on the ground and it's basically a €2milllion covered flower bed that you won't be allowed to touch!
 
I have problems with this as well. There were reports in the Indo that it'd only be open 3 months a year.

Also, if this was funded as a publicity generating scheme, why was Gavin allowed go AWOL when the prize was announced? The world's media wanted a piece of him, so he left the show and was uncontactable! Huge lost potential there and unacceptable given the level of public funding.
Leo
 
How the state can end up funding the likes of this is a disgrace.

440k+ people unemployed & we have a public sector mindsets that still have their vanity projects.
 
cork said:
How the state can end up funding the likes of this is a disgrace.

440k+ people unemployed & we have a public sector mindsets that still have their vanity projects.
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Bring back Fianna Fail I here you say?
 
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