The Fleadh was a celebration of all our island’s music

THE All-Ireland Fleadh took place last month in Belfast for a celebration of Irish culture that was on a completely different level to anything that had gone before.

The first Fleadh was held in Mullingar, County Westmeath, in 1951 and the event has taken over a town in Ireland every year since—with the obvious Covid-19 exception. In 2013 there was a memorable Fleadh in Derry—the first to venture to a city environment—and whilst Derry is officially a city, its footprint would be similar to some of the larger towns to host the fleadh such as Drogheda in County Louth.

When Belfast was announced as the host city for this year’s—and next year’s— Fleadh, everyone knew this was going to be different. Different in terms of scale, for one thing. How does an event that normally dominates a town feel in a city centre? But also how will this be perceived across the wider community within Belfast? And how will this be managed and policed?

In truth, it’s fair to say most people would have been travelling to the event with these questions in the back of their heads, hoping that all would be well, but with the worry that it might not be as straight forward.

Well, maybe you had to be there to really feel it and witness the event in all its glory, but by any metric, the Fleadh in Belfast was a complete and utter success story. For an event that officially recorded 800,000 attendees—a record at that time—in 2025 to more than doubling that in Belfast with an atmosphere that was absolutely electric, I genuinely didn’t want it to end.

Support

In the run up to the event, it became clear that the Fleadh had cross-political support from all the parties who work in the power sharing administration—and yes that included the DUP.

In 2024, the then High-Sheriff of Belfast, Sammy Douglas (DUP) came to the annual Congress meeting of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann to pledge his and his city’s support to the Fleadh in Sligo and he brought a pipe band from Belfast to the event with him to mark the occasion.

We were told then that the Fleadh theme would be ‘let’s celebrate together’ and that it would involve all of the communities in Ireland, but I guess no one was really sure what that would look like.

Well I can assure you it was fantastic. An event that demanded tolerance and respect, in return for education and celebration, it surpassed even the most ambitious of expectations.

In a city that not so long ago was torn apart by a civil war, that still has communities living apart between 21 miles of ‘peace walls’, Belfast has come a long way in a relatively short space of time.

I was fortunate enough to be at the ‘Gig-Rig’ in City Hall to see some of the performance by the Shankill Defenders Flute Band—a Loyalist band who were unsurprisingly making their first appearance at the Fleadh. The band performed a medley of music, which included The Apprentice Boys and also The Star of the County Down. The full set was well-received by the thousands gathered to watch, but what really got me was a bunch of kids under the age of 10 who were there enjoying themselves—practising their Irish dancing moves completely oblivious to the wider significance of the moment.

That was the real striking thing for me. The younger community have moved on.

Progress

At the same time the Fleadh was happening, there was another huge event taking place in another part of the city—Féile an Phobail in West Belfast. Irish language superstars Kneecap were performing to thousands, but it was the inclusion of a young rapper from Belfast in their set, 'Young Spencer’ who also goes by the name P.R.O.D. that drew huge applause from the crowds gathered.

Of course you can’t please everyone and both Young Spencer and the Shankhill Defenders Flute Band have face criticism from some quarters within their own communities for taking part in these events, but it’s a brave step to take and one which has progressed the case for peace and reconciliation in one week far more than at any other time since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 28 years ago.

An interesting point was made to me by a fellow Glaswegian whilst at the Fleadh. Whilst talking about how good the event was, how amazing the atmosphere in the city was and about how good a job Belfast has done he said: “D’ya know, I still don’t think you could do this in Glasgow. For all Belfast has nailed this and come so far, we’re not quite there yet at home.”

I thought about it for a few seconds then agreed. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got a good way to go!

Paddy Callaghan is the Operations Manager of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Britain. You can follow him on Twitter: @paddy_box and Instagram: paddy_box and contact him via e-mail at: paddy@comhaltas.co.uk