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Curtain down on 27th Feile na hInse


THIS year’s Féile na hInse came to an end in Cois na hAbhna on Sunday night with a prizewinners’ concert.
The concert brought the curtain down on what has been described as one of the most successful Féile in the 27-year history of the event. It ran for nine days and catered for up to 2,000 young people in a wide range of events and competitions all conducted through the medium of Irish and crowned a month of Irish language events throughout the county for Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Special guest at the prizewinners’ concert was uachtarán náisiúnta Chonradh na Gaeilge, Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa, who said it was a privilege to be present at such an event, where the standard of talent and performance was so high and where it was evident that all the young people who participated in the presentation enjoyed performing in the intimate atmosphere of Cois na hAbhna.
“Féile na hInse is now an institution, with not just a regional but a national reputation. To have a Féile of such a calibre running annually for so many years is a credit to the coiste who have developed it from the four-hour event it was back in 1984 to the present nine-day festival, now drawing participants from across County Clare and beyond in a celebration of all that is good in our language and culture,” he said.
Speaking at the finale, the cathaoirleach of coiste na Féile, Dónal Ó hAiniféin, paid tribute to all the participants in a programme of over 100 individual events, to their parents for supporting and encouraging them to perform on the stage and to their teachers for the hours of preparation put into ensuring that every child was ready and confident to perform in public.
“This year’s celebration of the Irish language during Féile na hInse follows in the tradition of the great feiseanna, which were established by Conradh na Gaeilge in 1905 in County Clare and challenges us all, young and old, to use the knowledge of Irish that we have, by speaking it. County Clare and Ennis, just like the rest of Ireland, benefits from the sound of many new languages on our streets, which should be a source of encouragement for us to use our own language. No longer can we feel ‘uncomfortable’ in public in not using English when our new fellow residents from Nigeria to Romania are giving us the dea shampla,” he commented.

 

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