All Ireland Pipe Band Championships - New Ross 2018

This page was set up to keep everyone up to date with info regarding the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships.
The Competition will take place in Pearse Park better know simply as the Town Park, it's situated on the outskirts of the town and is accessed from the N25.

Useful Websites
www.visitwexford.ie
www.wexford.ie
www.experiencenewross.com

Current (2013) All Ireland Champions:
Grade 1: F.M. Montgomery
Grade 2: Bleary and District
Grade 3a: Raffrey
Grade 3b: New Ross and District
Grade 4a: Tullintrain
Grade 4b: Raphoe

- Background of the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships
The All Ireland Pipe Band Championships have been in existence since 1946 and have been organised on an annual basis since then.
The genesis of an idea for an All Ireland Pipe Band Championship resulted from a trip by a Belfast man to Dublin in late 1945, just after World War II had ended. Eddie McVeigh, one of the great gentlemen of the pipe band movement in Ireland , was on a visit to Dublin from Belfast. While walking in upper O'Connell Street, he heard the sound of a pipe band. He traced the sound to a trade union headquarters just off O'Connell Street : that of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) which for many years was the practice hall for the Fintan Lalor Pipe Band. Eddie got into conversation with members of the band and the idea of a competition between the best bands from North and South of the border was born.
The first All Ireland was held in the Iveagh Gardens , Dublin in 1946 and it was won by the Fintan Lalor Pipe Band from Dublin.
It is a credit to the pipe band movement that the competition has alternated north and south of the border every year since. It survived the 'Troubles' and indeed the pipe band movement has been to the forefront in cross community relations on the island of Ireland since 1946.
The competition is organised by a joint committee comprising members of the two piping associations in Ireland – The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (NI Branch) which represents the bands from Northern Ireland and the Irish Pipe Band Association which represents the pipe bands in the Republic of Ireland.
The All Ireland regularly attracts up to 70 pipe bands from North and South and is one of the main events in the pipe band world.