The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, approves special support for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann which is regarded as the world’s largest annual celebration of Irish music, language, song and dance and one of Europe’s foremost cultural festivals.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ), which received an allocation of €2.2 million in funding from the Department in 2023, has been organising this important cultural festival since they held the first one in Mullingar in 1951.

Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, 2023, entitled ‘The Homecoming’, will again takes place in Mullingar, Co Westmeath 6-14th August with further details available on the Fleadh website www.fleadhcheoil.ie. Minister Martin has arranged with CCÉ as the national organisation to provide support of €100,000 towards the organisational costs of the Fleadh. This is a combination of €50,000 from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and €50,000 from CCÉ.

Minister Martin said: “I send best wishes for the success of the All-Ireland Fleadh 2023, a highlight of our cultural calendar. It is also a welcome boost for local tourism, attracting a tremendous number of visitors from home and abroad. I am conscious that the Fleadh is in large part achieved as a community project, reliant on the support of everyone in the area. I send thanks to the many volunteers and supporters in Comhaltas and the wider host community.

I also wish to acknowledge the commitment and support of Westmeath County Council and the Westmeath County Board of Comhaltas, who in conjunction with its seven branches in Mullingar, Ballynacargy, Castletown-Geoghegan, Rathconrath, Moate, and Castlepollard brought forward the bid to bring the Fleadh to the founding town of Comhaltas. Their efforts and dedication were rewarded with great success in 2022, and I hope that they will be rewarded anew by public support and attendance across the Fleadh programme for 2023.”