President praises youthful energy of culture fest

THE president praised the organisers of the country’s biggest Irish language and cultural festival last night for continuing to make it modern and relevant.

Mary McAleese said the people behind Oireachtas na Samhna have responded well to the challenge of reinterpreting and re-energising the event and bringing it to a wider audience.

Speaking at the launch of the event in Cork’s Rochestown Hotel, she said nowhere is the Oireachtas’s wide appeal more evident than in its events for young people — Scléip na hÓige.