A WARNING that Co Clare arts venue Glór faces closure and will wind up as a machinery warehouse if there is not a significant increase in local authority funding has been ignored by Clare County Council.
Accounts show that accumulated losses at the end of 2007 at Glór stood at €300,000 and last September, the Ennis-based centre's then acting director, David Collopy, warned that Glór would eventually close down and become a machinery warehouse if a significant increase in council funding was not forthcoming.
Annual funding for Glór from Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council has not increased beyond €320,000 since 2001 when the centre opened and Mr Collopy warned that the contribution would have to increase by at least €100,000 to keep pace with inflation.
However, with both local authorities cutting back on budgets for 2009, the allocation for Glór has remained the same for next year.
Originally conceived as a national centre for the performance of Irish music and focused on generating income from tourists, Glór abandoned that model after failing to attract sufficient numbers.
The centre - which was established through Government funding of €6 million - is now focused on providing entertainment across all art forms to a local audience.
Mr Collopy has since departed following the expiry of his one-year contract and is now the newly appointed general manager of University Concert Hall at the University of Limerick.
At the outset of the budgetary process, Mr Collopy warned: "You cannot have what you now have for the money that is being paid, so something is going to change, but Glór is not going to continue as it is. Otherwise, it will be turning in loss after loss after loss, then who picks up the loss? Then the negativity starts and it eventually closes down and becomes a machinery warehouse."
He added: "If it means that they can't give any more money, or less money or no money, then Glór has to operate accordingly, but it can't be expected to grow, develop and do all the things it should be doing if funding is going to be less. It just can't, fact of life; not going to happen."
The centre's associate director, Aislinn Ó hEocha said that the centre hasn't been informed yet of the 2009 allocation by the councils and was not in a position to comment.
However, Ms Ó hEocha said that the centre's autumn programme had gone very well.
"It has been very busy and the programme hasn't been affected," she said. "It has been really, really buoyant."
Last week, Glór was informed that it is to receive €95,000 in Arts Council funding for the fiscal year 2009 - a 5 per cent drop on 2008. Ms Ó hEocha said that Glór is "thrilled" with the centre's allocation.
Glór board member and director of the Willie Clancy summer school, Muiris Ó'Rócháin, said that the allocation from the councils "is quite reasonable given the serious economic recession that we are going through".
