Team effort will make a successful fleadh say hoteliers

“Preparations are going well. Hopefully we will get a good fine week weather-wise, but the show goes on rain, hail or snow,” says Berty Dunne of the Annebrook House Hotel, speaking of preparations ahead of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann '23, which returns to Mullingar from Sunday August 6 - 14.

“Everything went very well last year and I have to say the county council, the local Garda Síochána, and the fire service played an excellent role in supervising and policing the whole thing; everyone felt so safe at all times. The town looked immaculate. The council collected all the plastic glasses every night at four o’clock in the morning and done such a super job, it made our job to look after people all the easier," continues Mr Dunne.

“Mullingar Tidy Towns, also, were painting buildings in recent weeks, and they have gone above and beyond to present our town positively to visitors from home and abroad."

Berty says the fleadh has done so much for tourism for the town, he can see it paying "dividends" for years to come.

"People from Cork and Kerry, nothing would have brought them to Mullingar before, but they assured me they’d return because they had such a good experience. Everybody was so welcoming - the fleadh has definitely helped put Mullingar on the map for the future. It’s such a huge marketing exercise for the town that I don’t think it can be expressed in monetary terms, but will pay dividends in the years to come."

Speaking of plans for his own premises, Berty says entertainment in the Guinness Centre on Austin Friars Street will return once again, as will the marquee out the front of the hotel, "So we’re well-prepared if the rain does come,” he says, adding that a new addition to the hotel's entertainment this year is “the smallest bar in Ireland”.

“We might have one of the biggest bars in Ireland in the Guinness Centre but we’ll also have the smallest too, An Bóthar Bar. There is a tiny bar in it, but it’s more for the Facebooks and Instagrams of this world; it's a bit of fun!"

In the Greville Arms, manager John Cochrane says the amount of enquiries at the landmark hotel is up on this time last year.

“While last year was a huge success, we expect even bigger numbers this year going by the reaction so far,” says Mr Cochrane. “There has been very positive feedback on the town of Mullingar after last year's event. At the moment, we're organising all the staff and putting the final pieces together on the food operation, as well as the entertainment operation.

“We're planning for this for the last six months, and today our marquee is going up out back in the Fleadh Village," continued Mr Cochrane. "We'll have music outside in the marquee and people will be coming in and having the seisiún inside, which was hugely popular last year."

Mr Cochrane says the hotel is fully booked, while Berty says there is still accommodation available in the Annebrook during the early part of the week.

“Most of our rooms have been allocated to the fleadh committee and the adjudicators, different film crews; they need quite a large amount of accommodation, and obviously we have to accommodate them because that’s a huge part of the infrastructure for the fleadh, and our brother and sister hotels have done the same.

“Accommodation is always a big thing, but that certainly didn’t put anyone off coming last year; they came in their tents, by train and bus, in camper vans. It was a huge family event, and someone commented to me that it was the best fleadh outside of Galway, and they reckon that was the best fleadh that ever was.

“I think this year the busking is going back on the streets which I welcome; that is a big part of it and it will be good to see it return. I want to wish everybody all the best, and to enjoy the week. If everybody pulls out the stops like they did last year, I’m sure we’ll have a great fleadh.”