Press Release

Issued by Derry City Council on behalf of Colmcille

New Initiative To Follow In The Footsteps Of Saint Columba

Tuesday 10th June

The speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, William Hay MLA, launched a report yesterday evening at the annual Colmcille Lecture at the Tower Museum, detailing proposals for a new cultural tourism trail which will follow in the footsteps of the Saint Colmcille or Columba.

Mayor Gerard Diver chats with Dr Brian Lacey who presented this year's annual lecture on Colmcille (left) and William Hay MLA who launched a report beforehand detailing proposals for new cultural trail following in the footstepsof Colmcille that will stretch from Donegal and the North West to Scotland.

The launch came as part of a programme of events marking the 9th June feast day of St Colmcille or Columba. Mr Hay said: “The organisation Colmcille is funded by the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the government of Ireland, and is an example of European cooperation. I welcome this report, and the programme of events over the past days, including the visit of the psalm singers from the Isle of Lewis. It is good to see diverse audiences, and events that unite rather than divide”.

(left to right) Caoimhín Ó Dochartaigh -Bláthanna Arts, Risteard Mc Gabhann - Colmcille, Margaret Edwards - Education Officer Heritage & Museums Service, Mayor Gerard Diver, Dr Brian Lacey - CEO Discovery Programme, Eibhlín ní Dhochartaigh -An Gaelaras.

Mayor Cllr Gerard Diver said he was delighted to support an event that promotes the city’s heritage and history, he continued,

“It’s vital that we develop a strong infrastructure that promotes our cultural offer and this proposed cultural trail will add another dimension to our rich, cultural landscape, providing locals and visitors alike with a wonderful opportunity to learn about one of the city’s most famous figures and further validate our city as the cultural capital of the North West.”

The report, ‘Slí Cholm Cille, a Columban Heritage Trail’, is the culmination of a series of conferences and consultations since 2004 with a range of cultural and tourism organisations under the guidance of Colmcille, the inter-government agency established in 1997 to further links between Gaelic Ireland and Scotland.

Colmcille’s Chairperson Risteard Mac Gabhann said: “Slí Cholmcille will thread its way through West Donegal, Northern Ireland, Argyll, Iona and then up to the Western Isles of Scotland, with each place having a close association with St Colmcille. It will involve local authorities, tourism and transport providers, and a range of heritage and language organisations including Scottish Heritage, the Western Isles Museum Services and independent museums across the region.

Joseph MacPhee, of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (The Western Isles Council) welcomed the report on behalf of Scottish Local authorities, and spoke of the Gaelic Rings project in Scotland and its natural affinities with Slí Chomcille, the Columban Heritage trail.

Dr Brian Lacey from the Institute for Advanced Research in Irish Archaeology, who delivered the lecture on Colmcille on Monday evening, referred to the cultural legacy of the Columban monasteries seen in the Book of Kells. Dr Lacey said: “The impact that Colmcille and his followers made, not only in the religious sphere but in many other aspects of contemporary culture - such as what we now call the visual arts, literature and the recording of history, as well as what we would now refer to as international diplomatic and political relations - would be difficult to overestimate.”

The launch of the report is the culmination of a programme of Scottish and Irish Gaelic cultural events organised in partnership between Colmcille www.colmcille.net , the Blathanna Arts programme, and Derry City Council.

Ends

For more information contact Marketing and Communications, Derry City Council 028 7137 6504 or Malcolm Scott maolcholaim@colmcille.net 0798 99 00318;

Notes To Editors:

1. Colm Cille, originally from Donegal, founded a family of monasteries, which spanned Ireland and Scotland that had a formative role on the Christian, artistic and civic heritage of both countries. Key elements of medieval artistic heritage of Ireland and Scotland and Northern England originated from Columban monasteries: the Book of Kells, and the Book of Lindisfarne, the Moneymusk Reliquary, The book of Durrow, and the Book of Deer are some of the better-known examples.

Colm Cille, Latin name, Columba, was born in Gartán in what is today Co. Donegal, of the princely family of the Uí Néill. He founded many abbeys throughout Ireland and Scotland, most notably on the Scottish island of Iona. The network of monasteries associated with him stretch from West Donegal and Mayo to Waterford and Durrow, and to Lindisfarne in Northern England. He died in Iona in 597, and his feast-day is commemorated on the 9th June.

2. The organisation Colmcille was established in 1997, believed to be the 1400th anniversary of Colm Cille’s death, as the result of a visit of President Mary Robinson to the Abbey of Iona, and through the agencies of Brian Wilson MP, then Minister at the Scottish Office, and Éamonn O Cuiv, then Minister of State, at the Department of the Arts, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.

Colmcille works to promote the use of the Gaelic languages - Irish and Scottish Gaelic - in and between Ireland and Scotland. It also works to raise awareness of the shared Gaelic heritage - language and culture - of Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

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