Where is Cork’s sense of Pride?

This year's Cork Pride is more important than ever a Cork TD has suggested.

Speaking in Dáil Éireann on Tuesday afternoon, Cork Socialist Party TD Mick Barry said that as a number of sponsors have paused their engagement with the annual festival, there should be increased public funding.

Cork City Council and Cork County Council are providing a combined sponsorship of €8,000 to Cork Pride this year. He said the amount was "not acceptable".

He said: “A successful Pride is important in any year, but it is more important than ever this year given the increase in physical attacks on LGBTQI+ people and the campaign to ban LGBTQI+ books in our libraries.”

However, a Cork Pride spokesperson told the Cork Independent that the festival was not the only festival to suffer from lack of corporate funding and that both Cork City Council and Cork County Council had pledged a disproportionate amount of funding to Cork Pride compared to other festivals in the region.

The spokesperson said some of its annual sponsors are experiencing challenging times, and as a result a number of them haven’t been able to commit the same level of support to as they usually do.

In a letter sent to Cork City Council this week, Cork Pride highlighted the low level of financial support that Cork Pride receives annually from the council, which the organisation said, “is not commensurate with the support Cork City Council pledges to other festivals and events in Cork”.

The spokesperson said: “The key reason for this correspondence was to make Cork City Councillors aware of the low level of funding Cork Pride received from Cork City Council, contextualised against the support Dublin Pride receive from their local authority, and against the support Cork City Council pledge to other similarly sized festivals in Cork.”

The spokesperson added that the correspondence sent to city councillors was intended to be private and used not as a public statement. They expressed disappointment that it has been used as such in the media in recent days, where they said the “narrative has unfortunately been somewhat misrepresented”.

It is understood that Cork City Council will contribute €5,000 to this year’s Cork Pride festival, with Cork County Council committing to €3,000.

Continuing in his address to the Dáil, Deputy Barry described the combined contribution from both councils as “pathetic” and pointed out the stark contrast between it and the €160,000 being provided to Dublin Pride by Dublin City Council.

“The public sector must show that it has other priorities, and that society supports our LGBTQI+ community,” said Mr Barry.

The Cork Independent contacted both Cork City Council and Cork County Council for response but none were received by time of going to print.

Cork Pride festival runs from 30 July to 6 August and promises more than 35 events. For more information, visit corkpride.com.