The institute, An Foras Feasa, is a partnership between DCU, Dundalk IT, St Patrick's College Drumcondra, and NUI Maynooth. Inaugurated by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin at the Maynooth campus on April 18, it will create 20 research posts, including 12 PhDs and five post-doctorates.

€5.8 million has been allocated to the institute by the government through the HEA's Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions.

It is the first educational institute in the state to acquire a hyperspectral scanner, a device normally used by crime investigators and hospitals. The scanner will allow researchers to forensically examine documents, analyse handwriting, date documents and uncover text which has been written over.

Up to 80 researchers - with expertise in disciplines such as Celtic studies, computer science, imaging technology and media studies - are already working in the new centre. One of their first major pieces of work is the Alcala project, which involves digitising an 18th-century ledger and making it fully searchable and interactive.

Prof Margaret Kelleher, director of An Foras Feasa, said that the institute was named to acknowledge the book by poet and historian Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn. Written in the 1600s, the work traces the history of Ireland from the creation of the world to the invasion of the Normans in the 12th century.

"This work did more than any other to transmit ancient Irish learning and traditions to the modern world," Prof Kelleher said.

"We aim to continue in this tradition by building a knowledge base about our country's history and traditions that will not only be of huge benefit to historians and other academics but will make the unique and rich history of our country accessible to all."

Minister Mary Hanafin said that An Foras Feasa was providing an important service to academia and to the general public by using the most advanced technology to document our past and preserve old records. (Source: Irish Times)