Debate contribution: Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685983
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I first became aware of the broad plan for the fleadh many months ago. I was still in my second term as party leader, and members of Ards Comhaltas came up to brief me along with John Walsh, chief exec of Belfast City Council. It was a really interesting briefing. I had two takeaways, and both were about a measure of success. It was clear to me that their intent was to be incredibly successful in terms of numbers but also in terms of diversity. They were clearly totally determined to be as diverse as possible and to celebrate difference. It was going to be a "John Hume-style" eight days — I declare an interest as a trustee of the John and Pat Hume Foundation — and so it was. I am sorry to say that I made only two forays into Belfast city centre. The first was an official one. I was Minister of Health at the time, and I wanted to visit and thank the St John Ambulance volunteers. They were headquartered at the old Ulster University arts building in north Belfast — the one that is nearest to the cathedral. They had converted part of the ground floor into an actual field hospital. What they had done was incredibly impressive. They were also monitoring on screens, in live time, people who were calling for medical help. By the Wednesday, they were able to show me the peak hours, such as 5.00 pm to 6.00 pm, when people were coming out of work. People were sustaining minor injuries at that point. By the early afternoon of the Wednesday, they had kept several dozen people out of our emergency departments, so they took an awful lot of pressure off the EDs in our acute hospitals. I believe that there were over 100 St John volunteers in Belfast during the eight days of the fleadh. I met some of the others on my second foray in, which was just as an individual, on the Saturday. I visited their tent at the side of Belfast City Hall, where I saw proof that some of the volunteers had come from Great Britain. There was a man and a woman in uniform outside the tent. They were looking at me funny because they were thinking, "I don't see blood, a bruise or a black eye". They had no idea who I was and were wondering what I was doing there until a surgeon from Craigavon let the cat out of the bag. That St John effort was absolutely massive. I want to put on record my thanks to those volunteers and also to the volunteers of the SOS Bus, which was beside the City Hall. As Members know, that was there for people who get themselves into a bit of trouble with substance use, whether that is narcotics or, as my friend often likes to call it, being "over-served", which is his euphemism for having a skinful. Those people do a fantastic job as well. On the Saturday, I went to one of the Glider stops just down the road from Parliament Buildings. Just after lunch, the first Glider was so rammed that there was not even standing room only. I waited seven or eight minutes for the next Glider, and it was rammed. Seven or eight minutes later, the third Glider was rammed, so I went home, waited for an hour and tried again, and guess what? The fourth Glider was rammed, so I thought, "I will drive in, but I am sure that there will be gridlock". I got straight into the city centre and got parked in Montgomery Street car park, which I had got the impression was either closed or inaccessible. I got parked on the second floor, which is closer to planet earth than I have ever been in that car park. Something needs to be done about transport, because there were so many people coming from the east and, no doubt, the Ards peninsula. That is a takeaway lesson for next year. The fleadh was a truly remarkable thing to watch. What I got a lot of joy out of was not the planned stuff or the gig rig; it was the young people who were out on the streets Irish dancing, playing music, busking and, like Deirdre's relative, collecting money. If you are speaking to her, Deirdre, you can tell her that I never told her to keep the change.
744 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Awaiting analysis
This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.