St. Nathy's College Ballaghaderreen

18.00 – 20.00 - Registration

20.00 – 20.30 - Opening Remarks

20.40 – 21.00 - Official Opening of Conference
Dr. Patrick F. Wallace, Director of the National Museum of Ireland

21.00 – 22.00 - Performance & Talk, Mícheál O Súilleabháin.
Renowned musician and teacher Prof. Mícheál O Súilleabháin, in music and speech, examines and illustrates the ways in which Irish music has had influence around the world, and in its turn been influenced by music from many cultures

22.00 – 23.00 - Reception

10.00 - 10.15 - Coffee

10.15 - 11.15 - Sheila O’Donnell & John Tuomey
Award winning architects discuss how their work extends beyond the design of individual buildings into a living relationship with society: “The past is over, the future has yet to happen; we live and work in the present moment”.

11.30 - 12.30 - Reading by poets Luci Tapahonso & Liam O Muirthile
Prof. Luci Tapahonso is a poet and teacher of American Indian Literature at the University of Arizona in Tucson, with which Roscommon is twinned. Luci reads with poet and dramatist Liam O Muirthile one of Ireland’s foremost writers in the Irish Language.

12.30 - 13.00 - Panel Discussion: Minority Languages & the Future
With Luci Tapahonso and Liam O Muirthile, chaired by Theo Dorgan.
What does the future hold for ‘minority’ languages? The panel reflects on the situation of smaller languages, drawing on the struggles of the Navajo and Irish languages.

Lunch

14.30 - 16.00 - Panel Discussion: “Where is The River Taking Us?”
With Mícheál O Súilleabháin, Liam O Muirthile, Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, chaired by Theo Dorgan. The panel will discuss the social, cultural and environmental situation of Ireland today and the challenges and opportunities facing it. Audience participation welcome.

16.15 - 17.15 - Poetry and music, with poet Ciaran Carson and fiddler Deirdre Shannon.
Carson's black humour, satire, and playful and serious interests in wordplay make him, in the words of Ben Howard, “one of the most gifted poets now writing in Ireland." He will be accompanied by his wife, the renowned fiddle player, Deirdre Shannon.

Dinner

19.30 - 20.15 - Keynote address by President Mary McAleese
We are honoured to present her excellency, President Mary McAleese to address the conference on the theme “Many Streams, One Broad River,”

20.45 - 21.45 - Music with singer Iarla O Lionáird and piper Peter Browne.
From the roots of O’Riarda, Iarla O Lionáird is one of the foremost new generation Sean Nós singers with a voice that has earned him a vast international reputation. Peter Browne, founder member of the Bothy band, is an uileann piper whose peerless musicality is widely admired by fellow musicians and audiences alike.

22.15 – late - Conference Concert @ Spells Bar

Douglas Hyde Interpretative Centre, Portahard

10.00 – 10.45 - Service and Dr. Douglas Hyde Graveside Commemoration

10.45 - 11.45 - Lecture by Dr. Kieran O Conor
The Archaeology of Later Mediaeval North Roscommon
This lecture places the mediaeval archaeology of the Lough Key region in the context of the environment that created it.

11.45 – 12.30 - Lunch

13.00 - 16.00 - Field Trip on River Shannon aboard MV Moon River.
Dr. O’Conor will conduct a tour of the sites discussed in the morning’s lecture, departing from Lough Key. (Bus provided to Lough Key)

16.00 - Bus returns to Douglas Hyde Interpretative Centre and Ballaghaderreen

Throughout the weekend adjoining the main auditorium, there will be a series of exhibition stands presented by national organisations from the areas of the Irish language, arts, heritage, architecture and environment where delegates will have the opportunity to speak with representatives of those organisations.

A full list of participating organisations is available here.