The Early Irish course, which is taught through the medium of English, covers the history of the Irish language from its first appearance on the Ogam inscriptions at the dawn of the Christian era in the fifth century, to the highly polished language of the sagas and law texts preserved in the medieval manuscript collections held in the libraries of TCD, the Royal Irish Academy and the National Library, all within a five-minute walk of the Arts building. The Celtic and Indo-European origins of Irish will be investigated. You will come to know the great characters of Early Irish literature, including the tragic Deirdre, the doomed Conaire, the irresistible but irritable Cú Chulainn, the hopelessly infatuated Muirchertach and many more. The Pagan and/or Christian character of the literature will be investigated as will topics such as kingship, the heroic biography and the sovereignty goddess.

Some students of Early Irish pursue independent research in the subject with a view to teaching at third-level. Most follow a career in teaching or journalism, especially Irish-language related media. Library archiving, the public service, marketing, business, interpreting and translation all figure in the profiles of past students.