The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Listowel faces accomodation crisis over fleadh
LISTOWEL is facing a major headache in trying to accomodate crowds of up to 150,000 people expected to attend the Fleadh Cheoil there next August, it was admitted this week.
But one of the main organisers of the event - Listowel man Michael Dowling - is adamant the people of the town can rise to the challenge.
Mr Dowling was reacting to comments made by the Chairman of the Kilkenny Comhaltas Committee Jim Kavanagh, who has publicly questioned Listowel’s ability to host the event.
“They weren’t thinking when they gave it to Listowel and the decision wasn’t in keeping with common sense,” Mr Kavanagh said in an interview with The Kilkenny People newspaper.
Kilkenny narrowly lost out on the vote to host the Fleadh, losing by just one vote to Listowel when the decision was made at a meeting of the central council of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Dublin. The event is estimated to be worth £8m to its host town.
But Michael Dowling strongly refuted these remarks, commenting that they were prompted by ‘sour grapes’ because Listowel had beaten Kilkenny in the race to host the event.
It’s not going to be easy, but we are all aware of that. But we wouldn’t have been given the go-ahead from central council if they didn’t think we could host the event and do it properly,” he told The Kerryman.
“We’ve done our ground work and now our first priority is to get a good committee and a number of good sub-committees together, working with the people of Listowel to make sure the event is well organised.”
He said a public meeting would be held at the Listowel Arms Hotel on October 18 to discuss the Fleadh with the people of the town and the people of all surrounding villages in North Kerry.
The meeting is being organised by the Munster Council of Comhaltas and will be attended by Comhaltas National President, Labhrás Ó Murchú.
Mr Dowling admitted that accommodating the expected 150,000 visitors to the Fleadh in the week running up to and during the event, could yet prove a major headache for the committee.
The Listowel branch of Comhaltas will be forming a special sub committee to deal strictly with accommodation, he added.
“We do realise that the size of the event has grown by one and a half times since we last hosted it in 1987. But we’ve run ten successful Fleadh Cheoils in Listowel in the past and I’ve no doubt that we can do it again.”