'The Fleadh is 75 years old and has been growing bigger and stronger every year'

People flock to the Fleadh every year from all corners of this island, the other island, and the rest of the world. They come for the ceol, the craic and the living bilingual Irish traditional music culture, which includes the serious competitions. Securing the honour of hosting the All-Ireland Fleadh in Belfast was a major achievement for the local Newtownards Comhaltas. Nonetheless, now that the northwest and east of ‘the North’ have both hosted the Fleadh successfully, perhaps we should start thinking of an All-Ireland Fleadh hosted in the southwest. It also supports Irish language film and launched an Irish language channel for children which fills an important gap in provision for those children across the island whose first language is Irish.