Speech by President Connolly at the Official Opening of the Galway International Arts Festival 2026
Galmont Hotel, Galway, 13 July 2026
A Chairde Uaisle,
Tá fíor-áthas orm a bheith i bhur gcomhluadar anseo in Óstán Galmont ar Bhóthar Loch a’ tSáile agus tús á chur le Féile Idirnáisiúnta Ealaíon na Gaillimhe 2026.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le Paul Fahy, Stiúrthóir Ealaíonta na Féile, as ucht an chuiridh.
Is iontach an rud é go bhfuil an Fhéile seo ar cheann de na Féilte is iomráití san
Eoraip anois nuair a chuimhnítear siar ar an bhféile bheag bhídeach a chuir cumann ealaíon na mac léinn ar bun i 1978.
Nearly fifty years ago, from April 6th to 12th, a handful of like-minded people gathered together in a small room with a very small budget and a vision not only to bring the world’s best to Galway but to send Galway’s best out to the world. A daring and audacious dream that over the years the Galway International Arts Festival has made a reality.
In 2014, the festival added the word "international" to its name with Paul Fahy remarking at the time that the change in name was simply catching up with the facts. He was right.
A festival, of course, can only be successful through the combined efforts of so many people; the artists, performers, crews and volunteers; all of whom are crucial to the festival’s success. I want to thank each of you for your work.
Tá éacht á dhéanamh agaibh bliain i ndiaidh bliana. Is cinnte gur eiseamláir é an fás agus an fhorbairt atá tagtha ar an bhféile don méid is féidir a chruthú agus a bhaint amach nuair a oibríonn pobal as lámha a chéile.
Many of you have been here from the beginning. Indeed, Garry Hynes and Druid staged your first festival play and nearly five decades on, Garry and Druid are still creating theatre on a Galway lane that draws audiences not only from Galway and Ireland but from all over the world – this year coming to see Druid’s production of The Shaughraun.
Of course, Druid is just one of an amazing range of performances, including a new opera by Tarik O'Regan and Colm Tóibín, produced with Irish National Opera, which is having its world premiere here.
Coming to Ireland for the first time, fifty dancers will perform Colossus. Adding to the magic a huge whale will move through our medieval streets. Agus, níl ansin ach blaiseadh den mhéid siamsaíochta atá romhainn.
In 2012 the festival took a further courageous step. Alongside the theatre, the music and the spectacle, you have created, and continue to create, a space to allow for public debate on topics that require urgent analysis and teasing out.
After more than a hundred talks, The First Thought Talks series, presented with the University of Galway, is as necessary now as it was then. War, poverty, climate change and inequality, all of which are inextricably linked, have consequences for all of us.
Now, more than ever, we need to nourish critical thinking in a world where language has been debased and hollowed out of all meaning. Where the mantra of might is right is steadily becoming the dominant narrative and replacing the language of human rights, compassion, solidarity and dignity.
Tá de bhua ag lucht na n-ealaíon dallóga an aineolais a stróiceadh as ár gcuid súl agus an fhírinne ghlan fúinn féin, faoin saol agus faoin domhan, idir áilleacht agus ghránnacht, dóchas agus éadóchas, greann agus brón a nochtadh go lom dúinn.
Your festival provides us with myriad opportunities in a range of venues, including public spaces, to value creativity and imagination. To dream, to reflect and to see our world from different perspectives. You make this possible, year after year, and I thank you for it.
You also remind us that the arts are not a luxury to be considered when everything else has been accommodated. They need space in the life of a city – public space, permanent space.
Ní féidir an iomarca béime a chur ar chomh tábhachtach agus riachtanach atá sé go mbeadh spás lárnach pobail ag na healaíona chun tabhairt faoi fhéilte mar seo. Tá fíor-ghá le féilte ealaíon, féilte a mheallann muid chucu le síolta agus dóchas na samhlaíochta agus a nascann muid mar phobal féachana agus éisteachta.
As you approach your fiftieth anniversary it is important to take time to pause and reflect on what lies at your core. To remember and honour the hopes and dreams that brought those young people together in 1978 with their belief that the arts could be not only a source of pleasure and entertainment but a way of connecting, of showing respect, of challenging, and of inspiring change.
Tá de acmhainn agaibh a chuir i gcuimhne dúinn nach aonaráin sinn ach go mbaineann chuile dhuine againn le chéile, is cuma cén áit arbh as sinn.
Tréaslaím libh ar fad idir ealaíontóirí, ceoltóirí, drámadóirí, cainteoirí, criú agus oibrithe deonacha atá bainteach agus rannpháirteach i bhFéile Idirnáisiúnta Ealaíon na Gaillimhe.
Níl aon dabht ach go mbeidh sráideanna na cathrach seo ag preabadh le rithim agus spleodar le linn na féile atá le bheith curtha romhainn.
Guím gach rath oraibh ar fad.
Bainigí sult agus tairbhe as.