Belfast's Capital of Culture bid set to run up £150m bill

Belfast’s bid to become the European Capital of Culture in 2008 could cost a cool £150 million, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure Michael McGimpsey has said.

Briefing his colleagues in the Northern Ireland assembly chamber on Tuesday March 19 the Minister said preliminary analysis showed costs to enable Belfast’s bid to come to fruition would amount to a hefty £147.5 million.

He said an estimated £100 million could have to come from the Northern Ireland Executive budget between now and 2008.

Mr McGimpsey said: “I firmly believe that we have an excellent chance of winning the nomination. I do not see Belfast as somewhere in the middle of the field or at the periphery of the competition. I see Belfast as a front-runner, well place to lift the prize.

“The capture of this award will be a catalysts and will drive a process that will bring the people of Northern Ireland together, not just the people of Belfast.”

Mr McGimpsey explained that Belfast’s bid would run along three themes: ‘Made in Belfast’, ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ and ‘Life Without Walls’.

‘Made in Belfast’ will celebrate the best of local cultural and creative expression, while ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ will focus on children and includes developing C.S. Lewis’s home in east Belfast into a special centre inspired by the writer’s “Chronicles of Narnia”.

The ‘Life Without Walls’ theme, Mr McGimpsey said, would culminate in the removal of the 23 peace walls in Belfast.

The Minister added: “The wall between the Shankill and the Falls areas has stood for 33 years and is, in places, 30 feet high. Those walls make people feel safer, but they are negative measures. They cut across and destroy the urban fabric; they reinforce a culture of separation and they must come down eventually.”

(AMcE)