Belfast welcomes more than a million visits during the Fleadh

The first All Ireland Fleadh in Belfast ended in the early hours of Monday morning with organisers saying they were overwhelmed by the positive response they received from all communities.

Footfall figures - provided by Belfast One Business Improvement District - say 1.65 million visits were made to the city centre during the eight days of the Fleadh.

At least 4,000 were in the grounds of Belfast City Hall at 01:00 BST on Monday to hear the closing speeches and final tunes.

Niall McClean, co-chair of the organising committee, told the crowd: "We've done something that has never, ever happened in this city before. We've brought every single community together – and everybody has absolutely loved it."

Belfast One Business Improvement District (BID) used footfall cameras to capture the estimated number of people in the city for the Fleadh.

It said Saturday had been the festival's most well attended day with a total of 289,560 visitors.

BID Chief executive District Martina Connolly said it had "been a week like no other for Belfast".

"This success belongs to the people of Belfast. They embraced the experience, came into the city in huge numbers and created a truly positive and welcoming atmosphere," she said.

"We know there is more work to do next year to build on this success and ensure a lasting legacy."

McClean told the crowd on the final night that they were all part of an historic event.

McClean added that it had "put a permanent smile on my face. I'm the happiest man in Belfast. Roll on 2027".

"Belfast has shone, the world has come to our doorstep, bringing the biggest numbers ever seen for a Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann," he said.

The All Ireland Fleadh returns to the city from 1 to 8 August 2027.

Dr Labhrás Ó Murchú, director general of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (society of the musicians of Ireland) which runs the annual All Ireland Fleadh, described this year's festival as a "miracle".

He told the crowd: "I hope that when you go back (home), you'll bring with you not just the memories but you'll tell people that you were part of - and you witnessed and you experienced - a miracle here in Belfast this week.

"Because it was a miracle, a miracle of music, a miracle of friendship, a miracle of creativity."

The final performance of the night came from Lissadell Céilí Band, winners of the senior Céilí band competition.

Earlier performances included Belfast-based Campbell College Bugles, Pipes and Drums and Bangor singer Foy Vance.

The eight-day event was jointly hosted by Belfast City Council, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE) and Ards CCÉ.

Lord Mayor of Belfast councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly officially brought the fleadh to a close and said "words cannot do justice" of how proud she was of the city.

She described the event as a "watershed moment" adding: "A sign of our city's strength, ambition and future potential. Fleadh 2026 has surpassed all of our expectations."

Stormont's economy minister Caoimhe Archibald said a full economic evaluation of the Fleadh would come in the coming weeks.

Last week, the minister said initial economic assessments suggested Belfast's staging of the Fleadh would bring an additional £53m into the local economy.

A full economic assessment of this year's event, Archibald added, would help shape plans for the Fleadh's return next year, as well as in a more general sense.

"The experience of the Fleadh shows if you build it they will come, so to speak," she said.

"The experience people have had over the course of the past week, we will want to reflect on how can we ensure people can experience that all the time and are there things we should be doing."

The success of the Fleadh has prompted calls for Belfast city centre to be pedestrianised permanently.

A large zone in the city centre was created over the course of the festival.

Representatives from the Alliance Party from across Belfast have now written to the council and other bodies calling for a "comprehensive review of pedestrianisation" in the city centre.

South Belfast assembly member Kate Nicholl said the Fleadh showed "Belfast at its best, open, welcoming and full of life".

"When we design our streets around people instead of traffic, our city centre becomes somewhere people actually want to spend time, and that's good for our shops, our hospitality sector and as we've seen so clearly this week, our sense of civic pride".

She said accessibility had to be taken seriously, however.

"Any expansion has to be designed with disabled people and accessibility organisations from the start, not bolted on afterwards. That means looking properly at disabled parking, accessible drop-off points, public transport connectivity and wayfinding," she said.

Green Party councillor Brian Smyth said the "bottom line" was that the Fleadh "would not have worked without pedestrianisation in the city centre".

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins said she would support permanent pedestrianisation of Belfast city centre "if it works for the community".

However disability campaign groups, such as Disabled People Against Cuts Northern Ireland (DPAC NI), have voiced concern.

On social media they said: "We've seen this played out elsewhere and it's disabled people who pay a price for 'progress'."

DPAC NI spokesperson Dermot Devlin said that "many disabled people can only walk or wheel short distances".

"We need to park or get off public transport close to our destinations."

He added that "further pedestrianisation" of the city centre "without significant mitigation will exclude many of us from our city".