Fleadh Cheoil

Now imagine hundreds of thousands of visitors streaming into Cork, traditional sessions pouring out of every pub, street corner, and venue from the city center to the coast, and a massive 100 million euro boost to our local economy.

That's the vision behind a major new proposal for Cork County and city councils to join forces and bid for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2028 or 2029.

Following the huge success of Wexford taking in 60 million in 2024, and Belfast pulling in over £53 million, momentum is building to bring the world's largest celebration of Irish culture to Cork.

Now, Social Democrats Councilor Ann Banbury brought this proposal, uh, to the county council floor, and she joins us now.

Um, and I think, you know, a collaborative effort, uh, would be a better bid, whereby we'll be sharing resources between the Cork City Council and Cork County Council.

And, you know, any future bid, realistically for me, I think it should be a genuine partnership, um, not just one local authority over the other.

And as you've just mentioned there earlier, you know, the benefits of hosting, uh, an All-Ireland Fleadh, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann are phenomenal.

Um, you know, figures there of up to 60 million in Wexford, and I think upwards of, uh, 53 million to 60 million pound sterling in Belfast.

Hey, Matt.

This is very much a domino effect, right? And, uh, one that seems to be started by our very own Aron Roe, who is a singer-songwriter who was kind of making a name for himself as part of being on this tour.

He's definitely an artist on the rise in general.

But the booking that he would have here would be a very attractive one, a very enviable one, and the fact is, like last night he put out this statement, uh, which, which I guess was the first of many statements to come from other artists, effectively saying that, "I can't stay on this tour given what has happened to Macklemore.

I can't agree with the decision that's been made to throw him off the tour," a decision that Ed Sheeran has said was out of his own hands.

We can talk about that in a second.

Oh, we will.

And ultimately, he was the first one, like Aron Roe, and then you had Bioga, you mentioned his, his, Sheeran's house band, who he's had a long-term relationship with that band, by the way, about 10 years at this stage.

...

in a pair of Crocs, trying to feed two kids, bringing them to the Fleadh Cheol, bumping into Daithi Ó Sé.

The, the summer's gone is what you're saying, Darren.

Oh.

There's been a Cool Camp.

There's been...

Yeah, so we've, uh, been to the Fleadh.

It's like, it's, it's been a good jam, and, you know, the weather's been great.