Thematic area: Regional Policy/Employment and Social Affairs

EU Programme: INTERREG Programme (1994-1999) -
Ireland East-West Wales Maritime Programme

Title of the project (proposal): Intraceltic

Lead Institution/Consortium of partners: Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge (Ireland)
Menter a Busnes (Wales)

Intraceltic aims to establish the Irish-Welsh connection, using the linguistic resources of Ireland and Wales and their cultural heritage as offering the ultimate Celtic experience.

Background

Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, (CNAG) founded in 1943, is the central steering council for the Irish language community. It acts as an umbrella organisation for 22 member organisations. Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge's offices are located at 46 Kildare Street in the centre of Dublin.

Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge's two main objectives are: maintenance and development of the Irish language community, and status for Irish and Irish speakers. It's partner in this project was Menter a Busnes.

Intraceltic was a three-year cultural tourism project, funded by INTERREG Ireland East-West Wales Programme. The project in Ireland officially commenced on the 1st March 1998.

Selection of possible EU; finding, collecting and analysing calls for proposals

Previously in 1991 CNAG had organised a European conference on Cultural Tourism and Minority Languages and used this experience to develop access to relevant information on funding opportunities and potential partnerships with similar organisations in other European Countries. The conference itself was EU funded by DGXXII.

The suitability of the INTERREG Programme to develop new cultural linguistic tourism initiatives between Ireland and Wales was brought to our attention by a senior civil servant in the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, the Government department responsible for co-funding the cultural aspects of the INTERREG programme in Ireland.

The regular publications from EBLUL at the time would also have kept the organisation informed regarding calls for proposals suitable for minority languages and cultures.

The appointed INTERREG officers in Ireland and Wales were very helpful once they had been identified as the main source of information and support assistance in drafting the proposal.

Bibliographic Sources

Research into profiling the cultural tourism customer for the proposal was conducted with assistance from Greg Richards, Director of the Atlas Research Project, in Holland, which specialises in developing Cultural Tourism initiatives. The proposal also used published research carried out in Wales, Friesland, Ireland and Scotland, identifying a niche market for language-related and culture dependent products and services among groups such as longhaul diaspora tourists, 'ethnic' groups, young persons, better educated visitors and members of other linguistic minorities in Europe.

Study visits were organised to Scotland where the 'Fáilte', project to market and promote tourism products and services using Gaelic and the Gaelic culture was administered by Comunn na Gaidhlige.

Similar fact-finding visits were conducted with community based initiatives in Wales, i.e. Cymad, and Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta in Ireland.

Discussion and consultation was undertaken with representatives from Bord Fáilte (Ireland's Tourism Marketing Agency) independent tourism consultants, and tour operators.

Questionnaires were also distributed to O'Mara Travel, Abbey Tours, Brendan Tours, USIT and Irish Welcome Tours with a view to ascertaining their views in using linguisitic/cultural products in their itineraries.

Other Sources of Funding

CNAG funded 25% of the project through benefit in kind. EU programmes and funding in Ireland at the time were centrally managed by Government Departments. For example CNAG's annual funding came from the same Government Department responsible for co-funding the INTERREG Programme.

Partners

Since the European Tourism Conference in 1991 a close relationship between CNAG and Menter a Busnes in Wales had developed. Both organisations were founder members of the Economic Development Forum for Lesser Used Languages Communities. Both organisations had been keen to collaborate in developing a common approach to cultural tourism and had been actively looking for suitable EU Programmes for funding.

Menter a Busnes, based in Aberystwyth, is an economic and business development agency charged with developing business enterprise amongst Welsh speakers, for the economic benefit of the nation as a whole.

The project was steered by a Project Group which consisted of the Director of each partner organisation and a Project Manager from each organisation. A Consultative Committee was also established made up of representatives from the Tourism Industry, public and private sector in both countries. The involvement of representatives from the Tourism authorities in Ireland and Wales proved extremely valuable throughout the project especially at the submitting of the proposal stage and also in submitting the business plan at end of year 1. Their buy-in, in the form of participation on the consultative committee, made it extremely difficult for representatives from the tourism authorities to argue against the merits of the project. Secretarial assistance and office space was provided by the partner organisations.

The Project group met every quarter. Project Managers were in contact on a weekly basis. The consultative committee from Ireland and Wales came together in the first year and each country's committee met separately in year 2 and 3.

This was a "joint programme" in the sense that all activities were complementary. Intraceltic was not a 'parallel programme', as it was established in year one that the tourism industries in both countries were at different stages of development. The proposal for year 2 and 3 identified different deliverables for Ireland and Wales and the project managers in each country were responsible for managing their respective projects.

Links with Menter a Busnes were intense in the early phases of the project and in the period when a detailed business plan was being prepared for years 2 and 3. Experience was shared in the following areas in particular:

-How to handle language/bilingualism in cultural tourism - in a creative and dignified manner

-The role of the linguistic culture in the drafting of project aims, activities and content

-The creation of networks in what was essentially a relatively small segment of the tourism sector

-Development activities: seminars and workshops

-The development of marketing and publicity material

Aims/purposes of the project

Intraceltic aimed to establish the Irish-Welsh connection, using the linguistic resources of Ireland and Wales and their cultural heritage as offering the ultimate Celtic experience.

Considerable time and effort was involved in redrafting the programme's deliverables for years 2 and 3 to conform to the requirements of Bord Fáilte in Ireland. Bord Fáilte refused to support the project in Ireland unless the aims of the project in Ireland changed from one of product and service development to one of marketing.

As already mentioned research into profiling the cultural tourism customer was conducted with assistance from Greg Richards, Director of the Atlas Research Project, in Holland, which specialises in developing Cultural Tourism initiatives.

A database of existing and potential providers of cultural tourism products and services within the region was established and criteria for potential clients, i.e. tourism providers agreed.
Discussion and consultation was undertaken with Bord Fáilte representatives, independent tourism consultants, tour operators, tourism agencies and other community based initiatives in the cultural and tourism sectors. Questionnaires distributed to O'Mara Travel, Abbey Tours, Brendan Tours, USIT and Irish Welcome Tours with a view to ascertaining their views in using linguisitic/cultural products in their itineraries.

Intraceltic aimed to inform and encourage the cultural visitor to Ireland who wanted a real Celtic enriched experience on where to go. It also intended to provide a marketing service to small cultural tourism providers, specialising in Irish linguistic tourism products and services, situated off the tourism beaten track, with no marketing budget and no support from Bord Fáilte.

A consultation process with popular cultural tourism initiatives such as Oideas Gael in Glen Cholumcille, Áras Uí Chadhain in Conamara, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne in Kerry, Irish summer colleges, Irish summer schools was undertaken in order to formulate a marketing plan. Analysis and research undertaken included an external analysis of the tourism industry to include competitors, potential clients, customer analysis and formulation of marketing strategies.
Intraceltic identified the market for cultural tourism products and services in Ireland and Wales that use the Irish and Welsh languages and culture to differentiate and offer a different experience to the educated visitor.

Problems

The main challenge/problem was to convince Bord Fáilte that there was a market for cultural tourism products and services with a linguistic emphasis that couldn't necessarily be measured in bed nights in Dublin. The importance of sustainability affecting both the host and visitor was also an area that didn't seem to interest Bord Fáilte. The success of Bord Fáilte's recent campaigns to promote Ireland as a destination for learning English as a foreign language, might demonstrate the importance of a global perspective in Bord Fáilte's marketing.

Setting up a team to devise and design the proposal

CNAG and Menter a Busnes were both involved in drafting the proposal. Bord Fáilte agreed to acceptance of the proposal as part of the INTERREG selection process on condition that the Irish side of the project produce a business plan at the end of year 1 for years 2 & 3 of the project.

Working language(s)

The working language between CNAG and Menter a Busnes was English.
The working language in CNAG is Irish and in Menter a Busnes is Welsh. All Intraceltic publications were bilingual, either in Irish and English or in Welsh and English.

Literature review/relevant documentation selection

Letters of Support from cultural tourism initiatives in Irleand and Wales were crucial in obtaining funding for the project and were strongly recommended by the INTERREG officers who were very co-operative in preparing the final draft of the proposal.

Again the INTERREG officers were able to assist and offer advice in the scheduling and budgeting aspects of the project. The emphasis on clear achievable deliverables as opposed to the actual workings of the project proposed was also driven by the INTERREG officers.

Budget issues

CNAG and Menter a Busnes had separate budgets. The actual filling in of applications for funding every quarter, as agreed in Ireland with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Culture and The Islands, was very tedious. Intraceltic was audited by European Commission Auditors in 1999. The selection process for auditing is completely at random. The auditors spent a day going through all the accounts. Interestingly they were also very interested in the merits of the project in the context of areas/issues that had been identified by the European Commission as priority issues, etc. All together it was a very interesting experience. Therefore I would like to stress that it can happen to anyone and that it is very important that you retain all documentation and belief in the merits and value of your project in the wider European context.

Contact:
Adelaide Nic Chárthaigh
adelaide@comhdhail.ie