Funding by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival should be reviewed, a local councillor has said. According to The Irish Times, the council made a payment of €30,000 towards the four-day festival in 2014 and, in 2013, the year of the Gathering, it gave the festival €50,000.

In response to a question by councillor Victor Boyhan (Ind), the council said the money was paid as a method of promoting tourism in the area for the Gathering Christmas Festival in 2013 and in accordance with the Local Government Act 2001 and Arts Act 2003. “The council also passed a resolution in February 2014 to approve payment of €30,000 towards the 2014 Christmas Festival.”