By Michelle Crawley
WELL-known Gaeilgeoir, Matt Nolan, from Ballagh, Mullingar, made the RTÉ News at Nine last Sunday night, 3 August, when he was interviewed whilst in attendance at Festival Interceltique in Lorient, France.
Matt, who retired as an Inland Fisheries Officer in September last year after 46 years of service, is well-known in the town as a point of contact when it comes to Irish language, music, and culture, and regularly broadcasts on Raidió na Gaeltachta. Matt attended the festival in the Brittany region of France over the weekend with a group from Ballymahon.
The festival, set up in 1971, is a meeting point for all Celtic cultures and is dedicated to the cultural traditions of Celtic nations, particularly dance, music, and the arts. Participants travel to Lorient each year from all over Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Brittany. Each year the festival focuses on one nation and this year Ireland was the nation of choice. The RTÉ cameras attended the event as President Michael D. Higgins made an official visit to Galway’s twin city of Lorient for the event. Whilst President Higgins paid homage to the late Irish poet Séamus Heaney in his address at the festival, Matt Nolan spoke a few words ‘as Gaeilge’ about the great craic and wonderful experience on offer at the Grand Parade on Sunday afternoon.
