TaraWatch refutes claims made in The Irish Times and the The Evening Herald today about the M3 motorway, that the M3 motorway is far ahead of schedule, and accuses the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, of wasting more taxpayers’s money on Transport 21 propaganda.The Irish Times quoted a “well-placed source close to the project”, who said it was going “exceptionally well”.  The un-named source “estimated that building works are at least 10 months ahead of schedule.” and would “open to traffic in advance of the official completion date of June 2010.” The claim is false, as the M3 is actually behind schedule, after delays due to the discovery of new archaeological sites, financial difficulties with contractors and court challenges.  The estimated date of opening, found on the SIAC-Ferrovial contractors’ web site is 2011. It states: M3 Motorway between Clonee and Kells: Contract is due to commence in the Spring 2007 and the contract duration will be approximately 4 years.

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Pic: Gaelscolaíochta

THE establishment of an Irish language education centre first announced for Ballyvourney nine years ago is in serious doubt due to government cutbacks over the economic downturn.In March 2007, former Education minister Mary Hanafin announced that four staff were to be assigned to the proposed Ballyvourney centre, and that €1 million was to be allocated to an Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG), the advisory body who would be responsible for the resource.

COGG have since maintained that the allocated €1 million was not for the Baile Bhúirne centre or for the employment of any staff there, and the money is already being spent by COGG at its Dublin base.

Rather than employing any additional staff in Ballyvourney, COGG chief executive Muireann Ní Mhóráin says the group will be losing one of four staff in Dublin, due to an employee leaving, and the money not being there to hire anybody else.

Ms Ní Mhóráin revealed that the Ballyvourney posts “were announced, not sanctioned,” with no movement on the recruitment of staff since the jobs were mentioned 18 months ago.

On top of that, COGG received a Dept of Education and Science directive on 22 August, instructing it to cut recruitment and payroll costs so as to achieve an overall cost reduction of 3% in 2009.

It was intended that COGG would have offices in a refurbished Coláiste Íosagáin in Baile Bhúirne, and that the four appointed staff would be provided with temporary accommodation in a prefabricated building on the nearby Údarás na Gaeltachta industrial estate.

Údarás applied for planning permission for the prefab building last January, and Cork County Council have sought further information twice since in relation to the development.

Meanwhile, COGG have been offered more temporary accommodation where the Óige na Gaeltachta youth organisation is located in Baile Bhúirne until the prefab building is ready, but with a halt being put to staff recruitment it looks like there will be no Irish language education centre, and/or no one to work there in 2009, ten years after the then Education Minister, Micheál Martin, first announced it in 1999.

[Source]

Pic: gary

Finally, the mystery of the great Dagda’s Club is revealed as he seeks a way to bring his dead son back to life. We also hear an alternate story about the Dagda and Aengus in the Brugh Na Boyne. As this is a short tale, we have also fitted a moving piece of music by Orient Xpress in for your pleasure. We are proud to play this piece as one of the band members is a fan of the Show!

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Pic: BBC

The BBC reports that community-based Gaelic projects are to be supported with the use of £150,000 of Scottish Government funding. The Gaelic development body Bord na Gaidhlig (BnG) is to set up a Challenge Fund to support the preservation and promotion of the language. BnG said ways were needed to help all kinds of Gaelic-speaking communities across Scotland.

The announcement was made at the first national Gaelic in the Community conference, held in Breasclete, Lewis.

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said:

Gaelic is a national language. We must recognise it on that basis and support it across all our communities, from areas where it is well established, to others where it is growing – such as parts of urban Scotland.

She added that the release of this funding was

yet another step towards achieving … a sustainable and successful future for Gaelic in Scotland.

Read the full story at the BBC.

Pic: Liverpool Uni

Stone Pages have just reported that Liverpool University’s Continuing Education department’s Autumn course programme contains a series of items of interest. Liverpool’s CE Department continue saying: We continue to offer some of the topics that have proved popular in recent years, both practical modules and those exploring abstract ideas and cultural behaviour. As well as the traditional ten week courses running both during the daytime and evening, there are several shorter courses which allow students a ‘taste’ of our programme. We continue to offer students the opportunity to pursue their interest in Egyptian archaeology and history on the Wirral as well as in Liverpool city centre.

The great stone circles of the north west

10 weekly meetings from Mon 6 October 7.00-9.00 by John Hill at 126 Mount Pleasant. Continue Reading »

Pic: Columba at Bridei’s fort, Wiki

The Independent reports that the Picts have long been regarded as enigmatic savages who fought off Rome’s legions before mysteriously disappearing from history, wild tribesmen who refused to sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the benefits of civilisation. But far from the primitive warriors of popular imagination, they actually built a highly sophisticated culture in northern Scotland in the latter half of the first millennium AD, which surpassed their Anglo-Saxon rivals in many respects. A study of one the most important archaeological discoveries in Scotland for 30 years, a Pictish monastery at Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, has found that they were capable of great art, learning and the use of complex architectural principles.

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Pic: BBC

As we reported in the blog, Dive Magazine has updated us by reporting that divers are surveying a submerged forest in central Scotland that could be more than 6,000 years old. Divers are surveying a submerged forest in central Scotland that could be more than 6,000 years old. The Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology has been examining the 50 trees in Loch Tay, Perthshire, and trying to find any evidence of human life near the trees, which date back to 4270 BC.

Archaeologist Barrie Andrian said:

When we took a sample of organic material – because that’s one of the beauties of underwater archaeology, all the things are preserved very well underwater generally – we found a sample that had evidence of charcoal, bone and cereal grain. Potentially, we could be finding evidence of human impact on the environment from several thousand years ago.

Source

Pic: gary

Celebrating the Autumn Equinox or Second Harvest, we have some great music, some information about the meaning of the Equinox, a wonderful poem by W. B. Yeats and a fun fairy story from Scottish Folklore called the Meester Stoorworm. There is some great music from the Jacqui Callis, Sora and Kellianna.

The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: Orkneyjar

With the excavations on the Ness of Brodgar (Orkney, Scotland) drawing to a close this week, site director Nick Card feels its time for a major rethink about the landscape of Orkney’s Neolithic Heartland.
The long-held assumption that the Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stenness were the centre of activity needs looked at again, said Nick, senior project manager of the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA). He explained: Continue Reading »

Pic: Orkneyjar

It’s been quite a summer of Neolithic “art” in Orkney. Not only did the Ness of Brodgar yield another 15 examples, but now Eday can boast one of their very own. Following last year’s trial excavation, a team of archaeologists are back in Eday investigating the site of a Neolithic settlement at Green, on the south coast of the island. The archaeologists from BEVARS (British Excavation Volunteers and Archaeological Research Society), led by Mick Miles, are spending four weeks on the site.

Around the middle of last week the team uncovered an incised stone bearing some similarities to the symbol stone from Pool, Sanday. Expert advice has now, however, confirmed a likely Neolithic date.

Nick Card, projects director at the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) was delighted to hear of the Eday team’s discovery.

Commenting this week, he said:

I can certainly see that it has similarities with the Pool Stone, however, it reminds me of another similar stone from Eday, discovered in the 1980s. The stone also seems to display ‘proto’ double spirals as on some of the Pierowall stones. It’s a beautiful find.

Other finds so far include a miniature axe head and a polished knife, possibly a re-used fragment from a broken axe.

Read the full story at [source]