Galway's designation as European Capital of Culture has been given a boost with the announcement that the Government will fund any elements that can be salvaged later this year.
The event has been dogged by a series of problems in recent years, culminating with the impact of restrictions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
These have led to the cancellation of several productions that were due to take place in the opening months of the year-long event.
Now, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has committed to funding any productions from the initial programme, which can be rescheduled for the latter part of this year or in the early months of 2021.
All decisions on future programming will be subject to the ongoing efforts to tackle the spread of Covid-19.
Restrictions on gatherings of more than 5,000 will be in place until late summer at the earliest, meaning many rescheduled events might not happen until the autumn.
The scaled-back nature of the curtailed schedule will mean that many of the staff working at the company set up to oversee the Capital of Culture will be laid off.
It is unclear at this stage how many of the close to 40 employees will remain. Some have been seconded from Galway City and County Councils to work at Galway 2020.
Staff were briefed about the developments this evening.
The Board of Galway 2020 will remain in place and will work to salvage as much as what is possible of the programme, which was launched last September.
Talks are expected to begin with arts organisations that were contracted to produce work shortly.
Some planned activities have already fallen victim to the Covid-19 restrictions. Other events, scheduled to take place in the coming weeks and months, remain in jeopardy.
However, the department said it hopes as many as possible can be reworked or rescheduled.
The latest commitment by the department is in addition to the €7.5 million in funding it has already provided to Galway 2020.
It had pledged a total of €15m to support the operation. This is in addition to a combined total of €10m from the local authorities in Galway.
