Tomás Ó Carragáin is a graduate of University College Cork and the University of York and became a lecturer in the Archaeology Department, UCC, in 2002. His publications include Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape (Collins Press 2008) and Churches in Early Medieval Ireland. Architecture, Ritual and Memory (Yale University Press 2010), the first in-depth study of Irish architecture from the arrival of Christianity to the early stages of the Romanesque. He is currently working on the Making Christian Landscapes project which is funded by the Heritage Council and considers the impact of Christianity on early medieval landscapes in Ireland and neighbouring countries. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA), he won the 2009 Society for Medieval Archaeology Martyn Jope Award, the 2011 Michael Adams Prize in Irish Medieval Studies and the 2011 UCC College of Arts Research Achievement Award.

All are welcome.

Cathal Goan was born in Belfast and received his University education in University College Dublin where he qualified in Celtic Studies in 1975. He spent two years post graduate in the Department of Irish Folklore UCD before beginning work as a research officer with The Placenames’ Commission of the Irish Ordnance Survey. He subsequently joined RTÉ, Ireland’s national public service broadcaster, as an archivist before becoming first a radio and then a television producer in Current Affairs. In 1990 he became Editor of all RTÉ’s television output in the Irish language and in 1994 he was chosen as the first Chief Executive of the new Irish language television service which was about to be established in Galway. Teilifís na Gaeilge – TG4 – began broadcasting in October 1996 and has gained widespread recognition for the inventiveness and variety of its commissioned programming. In 2000 he returned to Dublin as Director of Television Programming at RTÉ. In 2003 he was appointed Director General (CEO) of RTÉ, a position that he held until January 2011. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Ulster in 2006 in recognition of his services to the Irish language and to broadcasting in Ireland. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Irish Language, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics in UCD in 2011. He has a life long interest in Irish music with particular reference to the Irish language song tradition.

On Thursday at 3:00PM in 424 Flanner Hall, noted Irish poet Peter Fallon will give a poetry reading.

Also, please remember the Hibernian Lecture today 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the Hesburgh Center Auditorium, “‘All Changed, Changed Utterly’: Easter 1916 and America” byRobert Schmuhl, The Walter H. Annenberg-Edmund P. Joyce Chair in American Studies and Journalism at the University of Notre Dame.

Tomorrow you are welcome to join us for an Institute Symposium on the Medieval Text Acallam Na Senórach featuring Peter McQuillan (University of Notre Dame), Joseph Nagy (University of California, Los Angeles), and Mícháel Ó Suillebháin (University of Limerick) at 4:00 PM in the Browning Cinema in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

On Thursday, join us for an Institute Symposium on the Medieval Text Acallam Na Senórach featuring Peter McQuillan (University of Notre Dame), Joseph Nagy (University of California, Los Angeles), and Mícháel Ó Suillebháin (University of Limerick) at 4:00 PM in the Browning Cinema at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Later that night, the The National Chamber Choir of Ireland will present a program featuring the North American premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s “Acallam na Senórach” commissioned by the University of Notre Dame. The NCCI is confidently forward looking while respecting tradition and known for memorable performances of exceptional musicality spanning the great baroque to contemporary composers.

On Wednesday, former Leader of the Green Party, Lord Mayor of Dublin and Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley will discuss the question “Can the European Union Survive the Economic Crisis” at 4:00PM in 424 Flanner Hall.

On Thursday, renown soprano Judith Mok will perform “Molly Says NO!” a musical reclamation/complication of the character of Molly Bloom with piano accompaniment, as part of Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland’s Year of Irish Arts in America.