This article is from page 16 of the 2011-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
ENNIS will play host to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann at some time in the future, as befitting its status and reputation as being one of the primary homes and melting pots for traditional music in Ireland.
That’s the defiant message being aired this week by members of the broadband coalition of forces that came together to spearhead the county capital’s bid to play host to the 2012 staging of the event.
“It’s a big blow,” the chairman of the Fleadh Cheoil Working Group, Micheál Ó Riabhaigh, admitted this week, but he added defiantly “I would certainly believe that we will come back again.
“We have an excellent location for it. We have done an awful lot of the work. We have proven that we are regarded very highly in terms of a location, so I think it’s inevitable that Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann will come to Ennis,” he added.
“Ennis has a well deserved national and international reputation as a centre in which to enjoy superb tradition Irish music and we still believe it is a perfect fit for this wonderful event. This is not the end of our efforts to secure this prestigious event for Ennis, we will try again,” the Shannon Development chairman, Dr Vincent Cunnane told The Clare People .
The Ennis bid was officially launched last April, after the initial moves to bring the Fleadh back to Clare for the first time since 1977 were first proposed by the Abbey branch of Comhaltas Cheoltóirí Éireann in August of 2011.
The ambitious plans were subsequently backed by Clare Comhaltas, while Shannon Development, Clare County Council, Ennis Town Coun- cil and Clare GAA also rowed in with support.
“Meetings will be held fairly shortly to see where we go from here,” revealed Mr Ó Riabhaigh. “Our working group will meet later this week and we will do a review of the whole thing. The Abbey branch of Comhaltas that put in the initial bid will meet and there will be a meeting of the county board as well.
“I think people will give due consideration to the whole issue and to where we go forward from here. While we have been bitterly disappointed, the amount of work that we have done has been enormous and it has been a huge insight into the whole thing for us. We learned a great deal.
“It was mentioned by Labhrás Ó Murchú at the meeting that both Sligo and Ennis would have been two fantastic venues to stage Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and while they couldn’t give a commitment that they could allocate it to either town, immediately or in the near future, they felt very much that any one of the two towns would have been deserving winners,” added Mr Ó Riabhaigh.