BÉAL Feirste Gaels are geared up and ready to offer a céad míle fáilte Feirsteach to the thousands of Gaeilgeoirí from across the island who will descend on what is fast becoming the Irish Language Mecca of Ireland.
From October Wednesday 29th until November Sunday 2nd Oireachtas na Samhna 2025, – the biggest Irish language arts festival – will beguile, entertain and enthrall as Gaeilgeoirí paint the town red, or in this case green.
Forbairt Feirste, the Gaeltacht Quarter based Irish development agency which initiated the move to attract the festival to the city for the first time since 1997, says that it’s all hands to the wheel for Belfast’s Irish language community as they prepare to wow visitors with what the city’s burgeoning Irish speaking community has to offer.
Forbairt Director, Jake MacSiacais, said: “It was way back in February 2023 when we first floated the idea of bringing Oireachtas na Samhna to Béal Feirste. It’s been a long road and has taken the contribution of many, not least Belfast City Council, to turn that dream into a reality. Despite some early scepticism we simply followed the dictum of the city’s Gaelach pioneers ‘Na habar é, déan é’ and now thanks to all the hard work we can party like it’s 1999.”
The prestigious festival, which will bring millions of pounds in spending to the city, is also an opportunity for Belfast to say a resounding “yes” to inclusion and to host a full-on celebration of the Irish language, arts and culture.
Jake added: “When we were drafting the successful application to bring the Oireachtas to the city we clearly set our primary objectives as:
Expanding the community actively practicing our indigenous arts in Belfast and across Ulster;
Further increasing the availability of Irish language services in wider society and;
Further developing and integrating the cultural heritage of Belfast’s Irish-speaking community into the life of the city.
“Béal Feirste has changed beyond recognition in the 28 years since Oireachtas na Samhna was last here and we are confident that this year’s festival will be the biggest and most successful in living memory. We are confident that visitors to the festival will be sure to return to Béal Feirste to further immerse themselves in the vitality, craic and cultural riches which are the hallmark of the city’s burgeoning Irish language community.”
Alongside the Oireachtas official programme of events which will be hosted in the ICC, The Europa Hotel, City Hall, Ulster Hall and various Irish language venues in the West, East, North and South of the city there are also a host of other events being provided by local Irish language groups to provide a big Belfast fáilte to this celebration of all things Gaeilge.
See our special Oireachtas supplement with this week’s paper.
