{"id":587156,"date":"2026-08-08T16:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/587156\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:06:30","slug":"success-of-belfast-fleadh-a-dream-come-true-for-organisers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/587156\/","title":{"rendered":"Success of Belfast Fleadh \u2018a dream come true\u2019 for organisers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The success of the first\u00a0Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann in Belfast has been described as a \u201cdream come true\u201d for organisers.<\/p>\n

Visitor numbers were estimated to have topped one million by Friday evening, already exceeding the 800,000 expected by Sunday, with music and the tapping of Irish dancing filling the city centre streets.<\/p>\n

Saturday saw the continuation of All-Ireland competitions with 5,000 musicians and dancers from 22 countries taking part, as well as street performances and pop-up activities Fleadh Fringe events on the outskirts of the city.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Performers took to Belfast city centre during the penultimate day of the Fleadh (Rebecca Black\/PA)<\/p>\n

President Catherine Connolly, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant, First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly are among the hundreds of thousands who have attended the Fleadh in the Northern Ireland capital this week.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the final day on Sunday, organisers have urged visitors to consider using public transport or park and ride facilities amid high numbers of attendees.<\/p>\n

Watching the crowds pass through the Cathedral Quarter, Jim Ingram, manager of the Friend At Hand Irish whiskey shop, said the Fleadh had brought everyone together.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Jim Ingram of the Friend At Hand Irish whiskey shop in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast said the event had brought people together (Rebecca Black\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knew what was going to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bought everyone together, similar to when the King and Queen visited. It\u2019s a bit like being at a wedding \u2013 we see the same business owners every day but everyone\u2019s out hugging each other and celebrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just brought a nice atmosphere \u2013 we should do it more often.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fleadh is coming back next year, but there is no reason why after that we couldn\u2019t have a weekend event of our own and make it an annual thing. It would be lovely to keep it like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Niall McClean hailed an \u2018unbelievable\u2019 success (PA)<\/p>\n

Niall McClean, chair of Ards Comhaltas Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed \u00c9ireann (CCE), the host branch for Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann in Belfast<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been absolutely unbelievable, way beyond our expectations, the crowds from the very start have exceeded all we thought, we\u2019re over the moon, and there is still two days to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been going to Fleadhs for 40 years and the atmosphere is always good wherever you go, but I\u2019d been maybe a little bit sceptical with it being a complex city that it would work still \u2013 but it\u2019s been extraordinary, the streets are full of music.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Fleadh<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Fleadh visitor numbers to Belfast expected pass one million by Friday<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting busier and busier and then the last day is always the highlight to see the Ceilidh band finish at the Gig Rig, so I think Sunday will be even bigger again \u2013 we don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going to put everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the Fleadh returning to Belfast next year, McClean said there are always lessons to learn, but that generally events have exceeded all their expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be hard to top when you see what has happened this week. The second year of the Fleadh is always bigger again, so I think Belfast is going to have to get an extension,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The success of the first\u00a0Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann in Belfast has been described as a \u201cdream come true\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-587156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}