Video: Day 1 at the Fleadh

Thousands of people packed into the centre of Mullingar yesterday for the opening of this year's Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

While there were a few heavy showers in the afternoon, the rain held off for the official opening of the event by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

During his speech the taoiseach paid tribute to the singer Sinéad O'Connor, who passed away last week. He also paid tribute to the organising committee and and said that hosting the fleadh is a massive economic boost for Mullingar.

“Mullingar is a prosperous town, a town that is doing well economically, but having something like this for eight days over two years brings in about €‎100 million, which is a huge amount of money,” he said.