Belfast has yet again been unsuccessful in its bid for the Fleadh Cheoil.
Elected representatives at a recent Belfast City Council committee meeting received a report giving details of how Belfast lost out to Wexford in a bid to host the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2024. Last year Belfast lost out to Mullingar in County Westmeath.
In the council report officials note that failings of the Belfast bid included not using enough Irish language in the submission, not engaging enough with voting members and attending enough fleadhs, and insufficient disabled access.
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One of the biggest festivals of traditional Irish culture in the world, the Fleadh Cheoil attracts many tens of thousands of international visitors every year. In its 60 year history the festival has only been held once in Northern Ireland, in Derry.
Ards Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, a cross-community non profit organisation promoting and fostering Irish traditional music, song and dance in the Ards area, teamed up with Belfast Council to make the city’s bid for the festival.
As part of the bidding process, local musicians and Belfast officials visited the US and Great Britain to discuss their bid with the voting members. This aspect of the bid stirred division at City Hall after a People Before Profit councillor tried to stop what she described as a £20,000 “junket” for council staff members and musicians travelling to New York.
Wexford have been bidding for the event since 2016 and will host the event in 2024 and 2025. Belfast City Council will bid again for the next event, with an application to be submitted by mid December 2023.
The council report outlined the failings and strengths of the 2024 Belfast bid. It states: “The Belfast bid received very positive feedback from all sources. Members of the Ard Chomhairle suggested (it) had created a new standard for bids.
“As well as preparing the bid document, Belfast City Council officers also secured a number of letters of support which were appended. Some further correspondence was also sent to senior and influential members of the Ard Chomhairle from the US Ambassador to the UK and Consul General [Paul] Narain.”
It added: “There were specific areas for improvement highlighted by voting members and trusted advisors - more Irish language content within the bid document; more detailed engagement with provincial comhaltas; greater attendance at conventions; greater focus on disabled access; and more involvement from Ards CCE.”
The report states: “After reviewing other bids, it is clear that it is not normal to produce a dual language bid document. The other documents do seem to have some key messages in Irish, acting as taglines for the bid document - this was absent from the Belfast bidding document.”
As well as the four provincial Comhaltas who are voting members of the Ard Chomhairle, a North American Comhaltas and GB Comhaltas are also voting members. The report states: “In the previous voting cycle, we engaged with the Ulster Provincial Council, GB Comhaltas and North American Comhaltas. Our information confirms that we received support from voting members of these three Comhaltas.
“The information received to date indicates that the vote was split with the vote being decided by votes from the Chair and General Secretary - with the most significant influencing factor being on those votes being the lack of engagement with all four provincial councils. This lack of engagement was due to pressures on human and financial resources. Given the weighting and importance of engagement this approach has been revisited for future requirements.”
The report said the contribution of the Ards Branch required an “uplift” from the previous bid, taking the form of partnering on convention visits, increased performances at conventions and other key engagements. It states: “This will of course incur additional expenditure for members of the Ards Comhaltas which in turn should be recognised given their status as a voluntary organisation.”
Total costs for funding attendance by council officials and the Ards branch to fleadhs, conventions and other traditional Irish cultural events between 2023 and 2025 are estimated by the council to be around £179,000.
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