WHO could fault the Fleadh positivity this week?

The atmosphere has been exceptionally family‑orientated, and is a joy to see.

From little legs jigging, to sean nós competitions, to the electricity of musicians’ fingers flying across fiddles, flutes and accordions, we really have something we can all pat ourselves on the backs for. Be proud.

The sight of everyone enjoying themselves in a city once ringed by steel and concrete shows us more than any document drawn up by politicians ever could.

Máiría Cahill: The Fleadh shows how far we’ve come. Feile risks showing we haven’t

Tom Collins: Embrace all the craic of the Fleadh – take it from someone who turned his back on Irish music

It proves how far we have moved from the past; so far, in fact, that it would be criminal for anyone to nostalgically hark back to those days.

And yet, some events in the west of the city have been in danger of doing just that.

More will come as this weekend, thousands of young people will once again wave their tattered tricolours like status symbols and drunkenly belt out “Up the ‘Ra” and other such nonsense.

Sadly, we have come to expect this at the end of a festival which has a unique opportunity to showcase the best the west has to offer, yet instead offers us “the biggest ever rebel concert”.

© The Irish News