merrion street

Pictured are Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation; MInister Dinny McGinley, Professor Ríonach uí Ógáin, UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics and Director of the National Folklore Collection at UCD; and Dr Ciaráin Mac Murchaidh, Head of School at Fiontar, DCU.

Minister of State Dinny McGinley has officially launched Dúchas.ie, a new Irish folklore repository, at an event held at NovaUCD, University College Dublin.

Dúchas.ie currently features some 64,000 pages of hand-written folklore and local history recorded in 1937-38 by Irish schoolchildren in counties Dublin, Mayo, Donegal and Waterford.

This original material, digitised for Dúchas.ie in a project funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, is part of the Schools’ Manuscript Collection.

Speaking at the launch the Minister said:

Folklore allows for fresh insights and interpretation regarding our culture. This is an innovative project bringing together the old and the new in a way which allows for long-term possibilities regarding the understanding of our tradition.

I am delighted to announce today new funding of €1.75 million jointly from my Department and UCD over the next 3-years to continue with the digitisation of the National Folklore Collection, including further material from the Schools’ Manuscript Collection.

I wish everyone involved every success with the next phase of the project.