The trick of being an effective Samhlaiocht worker at Easter, I have learned, is to make it seem easy. At all costs make it look like you are having a wonderful time. That and having a fantastically generous corporate sponsor like Kerry Group!

Admittedly the weather this year really helped. Was it not stupendous? That and the meticulous planning. The general feedback is that this was probably the best festival ever.

The spheres within which I was orbiting this year were Literature and the Cultural Music Event. Literature is self-explanatory and we had seven different events, three of which were telescoped into one joint evening at Reubens Cafe on Ashe St on Easter Monday.

The Cultural Music Event is the umbrella title for those events in which we sought to welcome participation in the arts by people of non-Irish origin. Alternatively this event also invites Irish artists or musicians operating in a traditional mode, or any artists/musicians involving themselves in art/music that is rooted in a particular cultural context.

I take particular delight in the Cultural Music Event as it is challenging to organise and provides a beautiful, colourful and touching aspect to the Festival. This year our programme included Egyptian dance, Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art form that is part dance), tango, a pageant by members of Killarney's Bangladeshi Community on the cultural practice of arranged marriage and last, but most definitely not least, an end of festival gig in Club Head Bang Bang, Tralee by Cork-based band Poles Apart. A big shout out to Keith and all at Club Head for their help with this event.

The members of Poles Apart are all Polish and they moved to Cork two years ago. They are classically trained musicians of exceptional calibre and when you are at one of their gigs you know you are experiencing something unique, special and deeply significant. It's jazzy, it's pure, it's youthful, and it's friendly.

The popular and talented local band Scenes played support on the night and one of their members, Billy, described the Polish gig as "savage".This is good. We'd certainly like to see them play in the Kingdom again!