Following a presentation by Máirtín Ó Maicín, PRO of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Mayo, to the cultural, education, heritage, and corporate affairs SPC of Mayo County Council, the organisation has been asked to address a full meeting of the local authority on the potential benefits of the two organisations linking up to promote Mayo.
During his presentation Mr Ó Maicín informed the committee that his organisation had 16 branches in Mayo and more than 450 worldwide spread across each continent. Also that they put on festivals and sessions all year round in Mayo and across the country. He went on to tell the meeting that this year was the 60th anniversary of Comhaltas and that the major national event, the Fleadh Ceoil, is expected to attract over a quarter of a million people to Cavan this year and be worth over €30 million to the local economy.
Cllr Al McDonnell, the chairperson of the committee, thanked Mr Ó Maicín for his presentation. “The work being done by Comhaltas could tie in very nicely with the work this committee is trying to do to promote cultural tourism in the county,” Cllr McDonnell told the meeting. “We started looking at building links already with numerous language schools where people are learning Irish around the world and this would be a very good tie with that work to promote Mayo as the cultural tourism destination of choice in Ireland.”
Cllr McDonnell’s sentiments were echoed by Cllr Cyril Burke who urged that the council do what they could to get involved with Comhaltas to promote Mayo in any way. Cllr McDonnell proposed that Mr Ó Maicín be invited back to a full meeting of the council to give a similar presentation and to see what both organisations could do together.
