Dear Editor,

I know young people come in for a lot of criticism and sometimes it is justified. Old fogies like me can often be heard saying things like “ what kind of rubbish music are they listening to now?”. One of the things which annoy me is lyrics which put women down or make girls feel that the only way to get a relationship is by using your female wiles and lying. But that exploration is for another article! This article is about acknowledging the achievement and dedication and hard work that goes into bringing the Indiependence Festival to Mitchelstown.

This year I had the good fortune to attend the Indipendence festival and I was very impressed on lots of different levels. Firstly a group of hard working young men from the locality got this up and running – they had the vision, explored the possibilities and put hours and hours of hard work into making it a reality. Lining up artists, advertising the event, via the media, social networking and events, organising staff and employing the right people for the event, maintaining security and providing refreshments and food at a reasonable cost to the punters is essential for the success of any festival. Well done to the directors of Indipendence Music and Arts Festival and the staff they assembled to run the event, you did a professional job and looked after your punters really well.

The young people who attended the festival came from all over the country and the world. They attend for a myriad of reasons but mostly they come for the music! For the first-time festival-goer, Indiependence is a great place to cut your teeth. It is small, once you step into the site everything is visible and accessible. The camp site is close by and easy to find even at night. I chatted with lots of young people there and nearly all agreed – they felt very welcome and safe in Mitchelstown.

I am going to talk about alcohol consumption because it is an issue and because most people in the town see the young festival-goer’s trail down through the town to buy beer and return to the campsite armed with enough alcohol to drown an elephant! Well partying and alcohol consumption are part of any festival, doing it safely and within the law is what we, as parents, want for our kids. I guess the best way to do this is to model, as a parent, the kind of attitude to alcohol we want our kids to have. I saw no out of control or drunken behaviour from young people at Indiependence 2013. I am not foolish enough to believe there was no such behaviour, I believe there may have been, but what I saw were groups of young people hanging out and keeping each other safe and for the most part, making sure nobody went too far.

Finally an article celebrating young people and Indiependence 2013 needs to mention the artists, the bands and soloists who took to the stage. I had back stage access and I was singularly impressed with the professionalism of this group. Anybody who thinks it is one long rock and roll party, think again. The music business is highly competitive, there are so many talented people out there plying their wares, young people in this industry are hardworking and utterly reliable. I witnessed groups such as The Hot Sprockets, We Are Scientists, The Fratellis, Glimmer, and solo artists such as David Skinner and Paddy Casey rehearse back stage to make sure their performances cut the mustard. That level of dedication to your fans and to your craft is truly admirable. Let us hope Indiependence 2014 runs as smoothly and is just as entertaining and provides as much value for money.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Cooney.