ARA,I Training Events

Niamh Ní Charra will present an overview of the Conradh na Gaeilge archive at University of Galway and the work of the organisation to promote the Irish language. Focusing on the the area of language rights and civil rights, how processing this rich and extensive archive led to the designation of over 200 new archival terms in the Irish language, and the place of bilingual listing of archives in the context of decolonisation of collections.

Niamh Ní Charra is project archivist for University of Galway’s two largest collections: The Mary Robinson and Conradh na Gaeilge archives. She is Chair for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, and co-host of the podcast series Archive Nation. She instigated and co-led a project to have over 200 archival terms designated in the Irish language and is the Irish language administrator for ICA’s Multilingual Archival Terminology Database. In 2025, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) launched a Digital Preservation Terminology Irish language glossary as a follow-on project, on which Niamh advised. She has since been invited on DRI’s Expert Advisory Group.

Niamh came to archives from the world of music, is a multi-award-winning musician and composer, and member of the Irish Traditional Music Archive Board of Directors. She is also a founding member of and volunteer archivist for FairPlé, an organisation set up in 2018, which aims to achieve gender balance in the production, performance, promotion, and development of Irish traditional and folk music.

The ULTACH Trust (Ulster Language, Traditions and Cultural Heritage) was operational from 1989 to 2014, a pivotal period for the Irish language in Northern Ireland, and it was dedicated to its promotion across political and cultural boundaries. Its archive comprises papers relating to these developments and also includes details of the Trust’s origins, the challenges it faced, and the range of projects that it led. As PRONI’s first bilingual archive, it demanded new approaches to cataloguing and raised questions about representation, balance, and inclusivity. This talk reflects on the journey of the ULTACH Trust papers from community to catalogue.

Bhí Iontaobhas ULTACH (Ulster Language, Traditions and Cultural Heritage) gníomhach ó 1989 go 2014, tréimhse ríthábhachtach don Ghaeilge i dtuaisceart na hÉireann, agus bhí sé tiomanta dá cur chun cinn trasna teorainneacha polaitiúla agus cultúrtha. Baineann ná páipéir sa chartlann leis na forbairtí seo agus tá sonraí ann faoi bhunús an Iontaobhais, na dúshláin a bhí roimhe, agus an réimse tionscnamh a stiúraigh sé. Is í seo an chéad chartlann dhátheangach i bPRONI, rud a d'éiligh cur chuige nua maidir le catalógú agus a thóg ceisteanna faoi ionadaíocht, cothromaíocht agus cuimsitheacht. Machnaíonn an chaint seo ar thuras pháipéir Iontaobhas ULTACH ón phobal go dtí an chatalóg.

Ailbhe Nic Lochlainn is an archivist at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). She undertook the cataloguing of the PRONI’s first bilingual collection, the ULTACH Trust archive. A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, with an MA in Irish Literature, her research focused on cross-community aspects of the Irish Literary Revival. She has worked across cultural and community organisations in information governance, and her work in PRONI focuses on widening access to records, promoting inclusivity, and exploring the intersections of language, identity, and cultural memory in a post-conflict context.

Is cartlannaí í Ailbhe Nic Lochlainn in Oifig Thaifid Phoiblí Thuaisceart Éireann (PRONI). Rinne sí catalógú ar an chéad bhailiúchán dátheangach i bPRONI, cartlann an Iontaobhais ULTACH. Céimí de chuid Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste, le MA i Litríocht na hÉireann, dhírigh a cuid taighde ar ghnéithe trasphobail d’Athbheochan Liteartha na hÉireann. Tá taithí aici ag obair le heagraíochtaí cultúrtha agus pobail i rialachas faisnéise, agus díríonn a cuid oibre i bPRONI ar rochtain ar thaifid a leathnú, cuimsitheacht a chur chun cinn, agus trasnú teanga, féiniúlachta, agus cuimhne chultúrtha a iniúchadh i gcomhthéacs iar-choimhlinte.

On St. Patrick’s Day in 1979, the Hirschfeld Centre opened its doors at 10 Fownes St in Dublin and became one of the most significant institutions in queer Irish history. Despite operating for only eight years, the political, social and cultural activities of the Hirschfeld made it a key space for an emerging queer community and an important site for the development of queer Irish culture.

In the decades since its closure after a fire in 1987, the Hirschfeld has functioned as a site of individual and collective remembering. Drawing from oral histories, memoirs, and archival research, this talk highlights the Centre as a site of ambivalence—a place where queer joy flourished alongside experiences of marginalization and loss. The Centre functioned as an engine of political transformation, housing the National Gay Federation (NGF) and other activist groups that campaigned for homosexual law reform and provided support during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Yet, the Hirschfeld was also a social and cultural hub. Flikkers, its groundbreaking disco, fostered a queer cosmopolitanism, connecting Dublin to the global gay scene while providing a safe, celebratory space for local LGBTQ+ individuals. The Centre nurtured chosen families and built community resilience against the violence and surveillance that characterized Irish queer life at the time.

Ultimately, the Hirschfeld Centre emerges as an ephemeral archive—a space whose material presence was lost to fire in 1987, but whose emotional and political legacies continue to shape Irish queer historiography. By celebrating this intersection of joy and loss, this talk underscores the Hirschfeld Centre's enduring place in the story of Irish LGBTQ+ resistance, resilience, and community formation.

Dr. Páraic Kerrigan is an author, researcher and Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. He has published widely as an academic and critic in the area of queer Irish culture. He is the author of the Irish Times bestselling book Reeling in the Queers: Tales of Ireland's LGBTQ Past, which was also nominated for Best Irish Published Book at the 2024 An Post Book Awards. His second non-fiction book will be released in 2026.

Dr. Barry Houlihan's talk will explore recent projects at University of Galway Library focused on archives of Irish women writers and their networks, creative work, and contribution to wider 20th century Irish culture through theatre, film, literature and also activism and politics. The lives and work of these figures, including Carolyn Swift, Lelia Doolan, Mary O'Malley, and Genevieve Lyons, as well as other contemporary Irish artists have been marginalised and uncollected within the wider record of 20th century Ireland. Efforts were made to correct the gendered and unbalanced record of Irish culture through the accessioning, cataloguing, exhibition, and digitisation of key material to showcase and share the lives and work of these individuals. Added archive contextualisation by recording of oral history has also proved to be a powerful asset in enabling greater agency through speaking directly onto the record, giving voice to otherwise often silent archives.

Dr. Barry Houlihan is an Archivist at University of Galway. He is the editor and author of a number of books on Irish literary and theatre archives and heritage, including Druid Theatre 1975-2025: 50 Years of New Irish Plays (Methuen, 2025) and the monograph Theatre and Archival Memory: Irish Drama and Marginalised Histories 1951 - 1977 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021). Recent collection projects and exhibitions include the archive of Druid Theatre, the Galway International Arts Festival Oral History archive, and a number of collections relating to conflict and peace in Northern Ireland. Barry is the editor of Irish Archives journal and is a regular contributor to RTÉ Brainstorm and Irish media on topics of arts, culture, and heritage.

Please register here

Copyright in Context: Ireland

Date: 11 April 2024

Time: 11:00 - 15:30

Location: National Library of Ireland, Dublin

ARA, Ireland are pleased to offer a one-day in person training workshop that will outline copyright in context for the two legal jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. The focus will be on Irish Law with comparison of key differences to UK Law as it applies in Northern Ireland for those who may work cross border. It will also highlight any key differences between Irish law and other UK and international jurisdictions. Using practical case studies this training event will address copyright issues as they apply to digitisation and social media. It will also explore the subject of third party copyright.

The training will comprise of three sessions, at approximately 45 minute duration each. Opportunity will be afforded to allow round-table discussions and ask questions.

The workshops will be delivered by Dr Ellie Pridgeon, director of Consultant Archivist, an organisation that specialises in providing advice and support to the heritage and records management sector. Group discussions will be facilitated by ARA Ireland, to provide attendees with an opportunity to informally discuss copyright issues after each session with their group peers. Groups will shortlist questions for the Q&A at the end of the workshop.

Attendance Fee

ARA Members: 100 EUR

Non-ARA Members: 120 EUR

Please register here.

We regret that the workshop venue is not accessible to wheelchair users. ARA Ireland apologises for this, and is working hard to ensure all future events are fully acessible.

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ARA, Ireland's AGM 2024 will take place in person, following the training event and is free for all to attend. There will be an opportunity to network informally with other ARA members before and after the AGM. 

Registration is sepearate and will be sent by email to all ARA Ireland members.