The Killarney SummerFest which began last night is one of the most heavily grant-aided of its kind under the festivals and cultural events programme administered by Bord Fáilte.
Last year, the festival's first, it received €486,000, the third-highest sum. This year it got €350,000, keeping it second only to the St Patrick's Festival in terms of grant aid. Last January a report to Bord Fáilte, recently released to Radio Kerry under a Freedom of Information request, indicated strong reservations about the festival.
Arts consultant Ms Doireann Ní Bhriain, who carried out an external evaluation presented to the board in January, suggested the festival should concentrate less on marketing and more on programme content.
SummerFest had potential, but its marketing costs were "higher than the entire budgets of better festivals", she said.
Ms Ní Bhriain also questioned the evidence for "100,000 extra visitors" brought by the festival.
An economic evaluation conducted by consultants Tourism and Transport Consult (TTC) said that, while the return on the promotional investment was well below the expected average rates achieved elsewhere, last year was its first, and new events required substantial launch investment.
Banking sources indicated an additional €5 million was in circulation during the course of the festival, the TTC report noted.
Mr Patrick O'Donoghue, chairman of SummerFest and a member of the new national tourism development body, Fáilte Ireland, said the committee was especially delighted with the level of community involvement this year.