Fleadh committee already looking at ways to improve in 2023

The organising committee are already looking at ways that it can make the 2023 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann even better than this year's, vice chair Willie Penrose says.

While it was widely praised as one of the best fleadhs in the history of the event, Mr Penrose says that he and his fellow organising committee members will tweak a few things.

“There will certainly be little changes here and there. You should never stand still. We are already looking at ways that we can make improvements.

“There were areas that mightn't have done as well, like Castle Street. The main street is where a lot of the action is, but we will certainly be cognisant of that in the 2023 plan; making sure that it is spread around as wide a geographical area as possible across Mullingar.”

While it is a lot of hard work, Willie says that he and his colleagues on the executive committee are “delighted” that the fleadh is returning to Mullingar for a second year.

“It's an acknowledgement of the tremendous work of our committee. We ran a very good fleadh and that's a tribute to the committee and everyone involved: the volunteers, the local authority, the Tidy Towns, the gardaí and businesses. It's an acknowledgement that that it was ran very well.

"But now comes the hard bit. Bills are still coming in, so we are still trying to deal with the last one. The issue for us is trying to set about rising the finance. That's a challenging task because with inflation running high you won't have much change out of €2m in 2023.

“The first bill we have to pay is €95,000 to Comhaltas before the end of the year for the privilege of hosting the fleadh.

“We'll be highly dependent on the support of local businesses,” he said.