FÉILE na Carraige is set to celebrate its tenth year with the return to a full in-person festival for the Upper Springfield based Irish medium youth and community organisation Glór na Móna. 

Glór na Móna is a key Irish language organisation promoting the language and related activities in the Upper Springfield and surrounding areas. 

This year’s programme is jam-packed with a range of events from Irish language tours around the City Cemetery, the book launch of Jake Mac Siacais memoir, an Irish language panel discussion including Fergus Ó hÍr, Máire Nic an Bhaird, Máire Nic Fhionnachtaigh and Mícheál Mac Giolla Ghunna, as well as a range of workshops, lectures, talks, and film screenings. The Féile will finish on Saturday 22nd October with a concert including local singers and songwriters performing. 

More information on events during the week can be found on Glór na Móna’s website.

Speaking ahead of this year’s Féile, Glór na Móna Community Projects Officer Eoghan Ó Garmaile said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the tenth year of Féile na Carraige.  

"From the outset the watchwords of Féile na Carraige have been ‘Participation, Politics and Community’.  We have aimed to create spaces for critical thought and community action while also celebrating our language and culture.  

"The West Belfast language community has undergone an unprecedented transformation in the past decade and the activists and energetic young leaders from the Glór na Móna community revolution have played a central role in these inspirational endeavours.

“It is fitting that the colour red is the theme for this year’s Féile which gives special recognition to the inspirational and historic campaign spearheaded by the An Dream Dearg movement over the past five years which has mobilised and politicised an entire generation of young people on the politics of community organising, grassroots campaigning which ultimately led to the enactment of Irish language legislation for the first time in the history of this state.

"The Glór na Móna community were reminded of the need to campaign for our rights in January of this year when the Education Authority informed us that all our youth funding would discontinue at the end of March. We reluctantly returned to the tried and tested pedagogy of youth-led campaigning which mobilised the West Belfast community and our elected political representatives to challenge this exclusion. This engineered a successful resolution and a one-year reprieve for our youth service.”

Gearóidín Mhic Mhathúna, Glór na Móna Operations Manager, said: “This year our packed programme of events including historical tours, lectures and discussions, film-showings, project and research launches all aim to provide critical space for reflection, renewal and transformation.

"At a glance, this will include: cemetery tours with Seán Fennell and a GAA blitz; launch of local republican ex-prisoner and Gaeilgeoir Jake Mac Siacais’ new autobiography; a fantastic panel discussion on the self-help history of Coláiste Feirste to coincide with the school’s 30th anniversary; a talk on the Father Des Wilson people’s history archive; a workshop on Irish language place names and a panel discussion on An Dream Dearg movement; a new film about the rousing history of community struggle in the Upper Springfield; the annual Harry Holland lecture with Professor Mike Tomlinson on social Policy in a future united Ireland; a workshop for children in Gáirdín an Phobail; a panel discussion with prominent historians on the legacy of the Irish Civil War, 100 years on.

"We conclude the Féile with a long-table lunch in support of local asylum seekers and our annual Gig na Carraige in Gort na Móna CLG which will give a platform to wonderful local musicians such as Brendan ‘Nipper’ Quinn, the renowned pipers John McSherry and Francis McDermott, the local folk band the Hot Whiskeys and Niamh Nic Ionnrachtaigh and friends."