Fleadh attendance put at 600,000

“Mullingar has raised the bar again this year,” said Comhaltas president Éamonn Ó hArgáin in his closing speech at the Senior Céilí Band Competition in the cathedral on Sunday: “The people of Mullingar opened their doors, opened their hearts and embraced the Fleadh Cheoil.”

The director general of Comhaltas Labhrás Ó Murchú said: “The first Fleadh Cheoil attracted a few thousand people, but we are told that the numbers this year far exceeded the numbers of last year and we are now talking of an attendance of over 600,000 people at the Fleadh Cheoil.

“There are so many messages in that, not just the outstanding music, the competitions, but the fact that it has come to a stage where there is nothing like it in any part of the world,” he said.

He paid tribute to the Fleadh Executive Committee: “Joe Connaire, Colette Glynn, Willie Penrose and 1,500 volunteers will always be remembered for the exceptional job they did. Keeping in mind that two fleadhs were cancelled because of Covid and to get up off the ground, not knowing what the future might hold, they set about organising the fleadh in 2022 and many people will say it was the best fleadh of all time,” he said.

“This beautiful cathedral has been our house for the last week. We didn’t have a venue big enough for the All-Ireland céilí band competition, then along comes Bishop Tom Deenihan, who offers us this cathedral and look what it has meant to us. If we had to rent a dome over the two years, it would have cost us €250,000,” Mr Ó Murchú said. He concluded: “We will meet again in Wexford.”