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A celebration of the 18th century Irish poet Brian Merriman and all aspects of Irish Language and culture.


Speakers at the 2003 Merriman Summer School

This page contains information on the speakers and lecturers at the Merriman 2003 Summer School; their backgrounds and contribution the School.

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This year’s speakers and lecturers

Guy Beiner
Guy is a Government of Ireland Research Fellow at the Department of Modern History in Trinity College Dublin. He is a graduate of Tel Aviv University in Israel and has a PhD in Modern Irish History from University College Dublin. His main areas of interest relate to historical issues of remembrance and forgetting.
Desmond Bell
Desmond was born in Derry and spent a lot of his youth in Donegal. He is currently Professor of Photography and Film at Napier University Edinburgh. His documentary film Rotha Mór an tSaoil won the 1999 Irish Film and Television Academy award for best Irish documentary.
Pat Burke
Pat teaches at St Patrick’s College Drumcondra where he is currently Director of MA in Theatre Studies. His PhD was on Friel, and he has published and lectured extensively on modern Irish drama and Shakespeare on film. He is also a theatre director and adjudicator.
Neil Buttimer
Niall Buttimer lectures in the Department of Modern Irish, UCC. He has researched and published on medieval and pre‑Famine Gaelic Ireland, as well as contemporary cultural policy.
Breandán Delap
Iriseoir agus léirmheastóir is ea Breandán, an chéad eagarthóir a bhí ar Foinse. Ag obair anois mar Chlár Eagarthóir le Nuacht TG4.
Ricca Edmondson
Ricca is senior lecturer in political science and sociology at NUI Galway, and director of the Centre for Intercultural Studies. She was educated in Lancaster and Oxford and worked previously at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin.
Brian Farrell
Broadcaster and political commentator. Emeritus Professor of Politics, University College Dublin.
Cathal Goan
Cathal is a native of Belfast. He joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann in 1979 where he held positions as Archivist, Radio Producer, Television Producer, and Editor of Irish Language Programming, before being appointed first Ceannasaí of Teilifís na Gaeilge, now TG4, in 1994. Appointed Director of Television, RTÉ in 2000. Currently, Managing Director RTÉ Television.
Michael Griffin
Michael is a graduate of NUI Galway and the University of Oxford and has spent the past year at the University of Notre Dame, where he has been completing a book on Oliver Goldsmith.
David Hanly
Broadcaster, journalist, novelist, columnist. Presents the weekly poetry programme The Enchanted Way on RTÉ Radio. Working on Morning Ireland for over 20 years. His TV profiles Hanly’s People won a Jacob’s award. A friend of Cumann Merriman from the beginning.
Patricia Lysaght
Associate Professor in the Department of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin. She is President of the International Commission for Ethnological Food Research, an elected member of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture, Uppsala, Sweden, and co‑editor of Folklore for The Folklore Society, London.
Susan Mc Kay
Northern editor of the Sunday Tribune. Winner of several awards for her journalism. Author of two acclaimed books, Sophia’s Story (1998) and Northern Protestants, An Unsettled People (2000). Born in Derry, currently lives in County Dublin.
Betty Mc Coy
Betty is a long established dance teacher who has played a central role in the revival and popularity of set dancing.
Johnny Morrissey
Dance master. Well‑known teacher and participant in set dancing and a concertina player.
Tom Munnelly
Tom is a Dubliner who has been a professional collector of song and traditional lore for most of four decades. A collector and archivist with the Department of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin, he specialises in English language song in Irish oral tradition. Based fulltime in Clare since 1978, he has also worked with and on the folk traditions of most of the thirty‑two counties.
Máirín Nic Eoin
Léachtóir i Roinn na Gaeilge, Coláiste Phádraig, Droim Conrach. Is í údar na leabhar An Litríocht Réigiúnach (1982), Eoghan Ó Tuairisc: Beatha agus Saothar (1988), agus B'Ait Leo Bean: Gnéithe den Idé‑eolaíocht Inscne i dTraidisiún Liteartha na Gaeilge (1998).
Doireann Ní Bhriain
Arts consultant and broadcaster and regular contributor to Merriman poetry readings.
Fidelma Ní Ghallchobhair
Rúnaí an Choiste Téarmaíochta.
Siobhán Ní Laoire
Ollamh Cúnta i Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh, Institiúid Ard‑Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath. Tá spéis faoi leith aici sa tsochtheangeolaíocht.
Máire Ní Mhurchú
Joint compiler with Diarmuid Breathnach of the acclaimed Beathaisnéis series, recognised by NUI Maynooth with the degree of D. Litt. Celt in 2002. She has researched numerous Merriman poetry sessions.
Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill
Taighdeoir logainmneacha, agus amhránaí traidisiúnta.
Mícheál Ó Conghaile
Born in Inis Treabhair, Conamara. He founded the Irish publishing house, Cló Iar‑Chonnachta in 1985. His published works include Conamara agus Árainn 1880 – 1980 (1988), An Fear a Phléasc (1997), Sna Fir, (2000) and An Fear Nach nDéanann Gáire (2001). Received both a Hennessy and IACI Butler Literary Award in 1997.
Brian Ó Dálaigh
A history graduate of University College Dublin and National University of Ireland, Maynooth, with special interest in the archaeology, history and topography of the County Clare. Among his publications are Ennis in the Eighteenth Century (1995) and a substantial article on Brian Merriman in County Clare Studies (2000).
Liam Ó Dochartaigh
Director International Education, University of Limerick. Stiúrthóir ar Scoileanna Geimhridh Chumann Merriman, 1998 – 2003.
Diarmuid Ó Giolláin
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Folklore and Ethnology, University College Cork, and author of Locating Irish Folklore — Tradition, Modernity, Identity (2000). Tá leabhar ar an mbéaloideas á scríobh aige as Gaeilge faoi láthair.
Eoghan Ó hAnluain
Senior Lecturer in Irish, University College Dublin. Directed Merriman Summer School 1992, and 24 Winter Schools (1969 – 1992).
Tim Robinson
Worked as a visual artist in Vienna and London before starting to write and moving to the Aran Islands in 1972. His books include Stones of Aran, My Time in Space, and Tales and Imaginings. He now lives in Roundstone.
Helena Wulff
Helena has a PhD in social anthropology from Stockholm University where she is a senior lecturer. Author of Ballet across Borders: Career and Culture in the World of Dancers (Berg, 1998). She is currently engaged in a study of dance in Ireland and questions of memory, modernity and place.

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