UCD president Dr Hugh Brady, who faced criticism for his decision to downgrade Old Irish, has pushed through a major new investment in Irish and Celtic studies at the university.
Yesterday's meeting of the governing authority has backed four new professorships in the area - Early Irish, Classical Irish, Modern Irish, Celtic Archaeology - and the appointment of a new director for the National Folklore Collection.
The appointments come after a review of the school of Irish and Celtic studies at UCD.
Earlier this year, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin contacted Dr Brady to voice her concern about changes to the status of Old Irish at UCD, which also drew an angry reaction from a wide range of distinguished Irish and international scholars.
Ms Hanafin, a former Irish teacher, was said to be dismayed that UCD no longer offered Early and Medieval Irish as a full degree subject.
It is known that Dr Brady had been concerned about low student numbers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Irish studies and what was seen by the UCD hierarchy as its low research impact and lack of engagement with other disciplines.
Yesterday, Dr Brady paid tribute to staff who have "transformed the school in a remarkably short period of time".
They are, Dr Brady said, "building an exciting suite of undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes that harness the school's traditional strengths and unique archival resources and will guarantee the school's position as the pre-eminent international centre for the study of Irish and Celtic civilisation".
According to Dr Brady, progress in the area includes:
• A 12 per cent to 25 per cent increase in undergraduate student numbers in the school's main subject areas;
• A dramatic increase in masters and PhD student recruitment;
• and a new course introduced for students without any prior knowledge of the Irish language.
