Sir, – Last week’s Fleadh Cheoil in Belfast was a marvellous occasion – joyful would be an even better description. “The most significant cultural event in the city in my lifetime,” said one friend who had lived through 30 years of the Troubles.
Whether it was the opening with the wonderful Sharon Shannon, or the appearance on the main stage outside City Hall on the final night of the Shankill Road Defenders Flute Band, this was a cross-community festival with a difference.
The first difference was the sheer numbers on the streets – around 1.6 million people over the week was the organisers’ estimate. The second was the atmosphere: happy, relaxed, family-oriented. It was a very far cry from the city’s terrible race riots in June.
Huge credit should go to both Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and Belfast City Council. Last year’s DUP lord mayor, Tracy Kelly, was enthusiastically supportive of Comhaltas’s ambitious plans and visited Wexford to see the 2025 Fleadh Cheoil.
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Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly contributed a pitch-perfect speech of welcome. The loyalist Belfast Bands Forum were fully on board.
When I see such a heartwarming coming together of the usually divided people of Belfast around the simple enjoyment of Irish traditional music, I have renewed hope for the coming together of the divided people of the North (and South) in other ways. – Yours, etc,
ANDY POLLAK,
Palmerston Road,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
