Impressive Dublin City Fleadh comes of age…
There was only one All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Dublin. Due to be held in 1971, it was posponed and held the following year, 1972. This year it was Belfast’s turn. Not to be totally outdone, Dublin City Council’s Fleadh came to Smithfield Square on August 23, building on their successful 2025 fleadh gathering, It all took place in five city hubs on a Saturday and Sunday in August, a completely free and unticketeda celebration of traditional Irish music in a Dublin City centre. The city streets echoed with traditional songs and energetic Céilís, art workshops, and spontaneous pop-up street sessions filled Smithfield Square, Meeting House Square, Wolfe Tone Square, Parliament Street and Capel Street.
This year’s roster presented main stage performances at Smithfield Square by the Sharon Shannon Big Band, Altan and Dervish, The Scratch, Madra Salach and Kíla. At Meeting House Square audiences enjoyed traditional music with Andy Irvine, Quilty and the Máirtín O’Connor Trio.
Wolfe Tone Square had recitals and Céilís including Na Píobairí Uilleann Piping with Wynton Moore, Aoife Fadian and Síofra Ní Mhóráin, a Harp Ireland Recital featuring the Martin Family Harp Trio, plus dynamic sets from An Chéad Ghlúin Eile, Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, and Seán McKeon. Down in Capel Street they enjoyed some acoustic sessions featuring sets from trad musicians and in Parliament Street they enjoyed Faró and the Fingal Mummers
International show jumper Richard Howley, Gallagher Dublin Horse Show director Fiona Sheridan and international show jumper Rachel Proudley with River Radley from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
International show jumper Rachel Proudley and Gallagher Dublin Horse Show Director Fiona Sheridan, presented a cheque for €5,000 to CHI Temple Street. At last year’s Show, Rachel made history by clearing the 2.15m wall at just 20 years of age, becoming the first woman in 60 years to win the prestigious Defender Puissance title.
Rachel, who rides for HK Horses, one of the UK’s leading international show jumping yards, and is trained and managed by Richard Howley, generously donated €2,500 from her prize fund to CHI Temple Street. The RDS matched her contribution, bringing the total donation to €5,000 For more details on the show and to save 10% on tickets visit www.dublinhorseshow.com. Kids under 4 go free.
Little Museum and Military Archives combine for notable exhibition
Rarely seen revolutionary artefacts are now on display at The Little Museum a remarkable collection of rarely seen, historically significant artefacts will be on public view for the next five years.
Most of the objects are drawn from the Brother Allen Collection, which was donated to the Edmund Rice Trust and presented to the Military Archives in 2016 to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising. Now a decade later, these deeply personal and nationally important items will be displayed in the heart of Dublin from today, Thursday the 26th March, offering visitors to the museum a timely, rare and intimate insight into the lives of those who shaped Ireland’s revolutionary period.
Highlights include: the brown leather holster allegedly worn by Michael Collins when he was killed at Béal na Bláth, part of the military equipment belonging to the Commander-in-Chief of the National Army.
A handwritten letter from Patrick Pearse to Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh (later president of Ireland) on Easter Weekend (dated 22-4-1916), enquiring whether he could put him and his brother, Willie Pearse, up the Saturday night before the Easter rebellion. There is a delicate sketch of Kilmainham Prison Chapel by Grace Gifford, the chapel where she married Joseph Mary Plunkett before his execution. This was later immortalised in the song ‘Grace’. A handwritten dispatch from Seán MacDiarmada, sent from the General Post Office (GPO) on the first day of the Easter Rising, 1916, carried by Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh. A Macramé bag made by Peadar Kearney, author of ‘A Soldier’s Song’ (‘Amhrán na bhFiann’), while serving a sentence of internment in Ballykinlar camp. A silk thread scapular worn by Countess Markievicz while in prison. A Bamba cigarette found in the pocket of William J. Pearse after his execution on May 4th, 1916, in Kilmainham Gaol. Pink felt infant shoes made by Kathleen Clarke, widow of proclamation signatory Tom Clarke, while she was imprisoned in Holloway Prison, 1918.
A letter by Dr Kathleen Lynn which she wrote from Mountjoy Prison to the deputy adjutant general, Parkgate, dated 26th June 1916, requesting return of her belongings including medical equipment and a fur coat. A ‘Bloody Sunday’ ticket, for the challenge match of Dublin Vs. Tipperary at Croke Park, Sunday 21st November 1920.
Speaking on the partnership, Commandant Daniel Ayiotis, Director of the Military Archives, said today “As both the director of the Military Archives and a born and bred Dubliner, I’m excited and proud that we have partnered with the Little Museum of Dublin. While our most prominent role as an institution is providing access to documentary material, this collaboration gives us the opportunity to share with the public some of our significant collection of historical artefacts in a museum that embodies the unique character of Dublin and tells the stories of the city in a way that educates, advocates, informs, enlightens and entertains.”
For more information and tickets, please visit www.littlemuseum.ie.
Remembering two Dublin Oscar winners
Brenda Fricker the first Irish woman to win an Oscar
A sad few weeks too, two notable Dubs departed. Brenda Fricker, the first Irish woman to win an Oscar, died aged 81, after a brief illness at Our Lady’s Hospice in Harold’s Cross. Brenda Fricker lived alone alone with her dog ‘Juno’ in Ardee Street in Dublin 8, a quiet terrace of small, single-storey cottages in the Liberties, one of the oldest and most tightly knit communities in the city, the very same neighbourhood where she was born and raised. Her Academy Award for ‘My Left Foot’ opened the door to fame, Hollywood and beyond. She preferred to live among the people she knew. She would often treat herself to a cod and chips at Fusco’s Cafe, on Meath Street – a treat she often enjoyed, with Champagne, as you would, among her friends and neighbours. Her husband, the British television director Barry Davies, the prolific British television director and writer best known for acclaimed dramas like Oppenheimer (1980) and Telford’s Change (1979) died in 1991. Her dog ‘Juno’ died a month or so before her.
Ultimate award for Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard. from Ballymun to Hollywood..
Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Glen Hansard died in a 4.30am. motorcycle crash on the R109, a west Dublin road, between Tinkers Hill and Rugged Lane. It along the edge of the Phoenix Park toward Lucan.
Glen was married to the Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa and split their time living between Ireland and Finland. Mostly remembered for his role in ‘The Commitments’, and with Marketa Irglova, co-wrote the Oscar-winning song ‘Falling Slowly’for the Irish musical film ‘Once’, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. They launched the musical duo The Swell Season in 2006, named after Josef Škvorecký’s novel.
