UNTIL now, whenever I’ve tried to explain what I mean by a “New” Ireland – tried to describe the kind of all-island state I would love to see created – I’ve been lost for something that I could point to and say “This is what I mean”.

But not any more.

The recent Fleadh in Belfast provided a perfect snapshot, a perfect reference point, of exactly the kind of New Ireland I have in mind.

An Ireland where we not only accept our variety of cultures but celebrate them together.

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Where, rather than being considered a defining feature, a person’s religion is of no interest to anyone except themselves.

A place where politics has no part to play in cultural celebrations.

Indeed, a major reason the Fleadh was so successful was the total absence of politics.

There were no (invariably skewed) references to our history, no aggrandising of former “combatants”, or tokenistic box-ticking exercises.

This was the real thing: a celebration of our various cultures, and nothing else. And it brought our people together, in harmony and mutual enjoyment, such as I’ve never seen before.

Given how we have stretched the term “culture” almost to breaking point here, we can hardly blame........

© The Irish News