Marketing

St Patrick’s Festival should be ‘more self-sufficient’, says chief

New chief executive Richard Tierney is looking for commercial partnership opportunities for the festival – but ‘it’s about adding entertainment value, not just putting a logo everywhere’

Richard Tierney, the new chief executive of St Patrick’s Festival: ‘The 2023 edition will definitely be larger and have more elements to it.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

The St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin should be more commercially self-sufficient according to Richard Tierney, its new chief executive.

Tierney, who took over the role earlier this year, was previously involved in securing the naming rights for the 3Arena and the Bord Gáis Theatre in Dublin, as well as the SSE Arena in Belfast. But he said there will be no attempt to sell the branding of the festival.

“Normally I would say never say never, but in this case, it will never happen. The reality is that we’ve been under the radar in terms of commercial opportunities up to now,” Tierney told the Business Post.