The much-acclaimed Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 20026 has come and gone, but anticipation is already building in Belfast for an even bigger and better one next year.

Meanwhile, the impact of the fleadh in this city is raising important cultural, religious and symbolic issues which go far beyond the music, dancing and celebrations which 1.6 million people shared in the streets and big concert halls of the city, and in some of its churches. Traditional Irish music and dancing were not part of the cultural life of northern Protestants when I was growing up in the Border county of south Armagh a long time ago. It was made clear that all things Gaelic were part of the Catholic culture, but not for me because I was a Presbyterian, albeit by accident of birth.

However, my grandfather, Thomas McCreary, helped to challenge the stereotype. He was a practising Presbyterian, but he told me that he joined the Orange Order as a young man because it was the only social club in the rural Ulster of a then united Ireland.

He played jigs and reels on his fiddle at Orange Hall gatherings often until dawn, and he loved Irish music all his life. I am sure he would also have loved the fleadh in Belfast.

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