Each year the Irish Studies Centre hosts a series of open lectures and events which are open to any interested member of the public. The Cultural Programme (formerly the Public Lecture Series) regularly has audiences of a hundred and fifty plus and its ability to attract high profile speakers, writers and celebrities from Ireland and elsewhere guarantees the event considerable public interest and media attention. Some of the subjects covered by the Programme over the years have been the effects of globalization on Irish traditional music, Ireland and the Euro, contemporary Irish literature, the wall murals of Northern Ireland and the life and times of W.B. Yeats.
Lectures and events are participatory, with a 'question and answer' session between audience and speaker. They are followed by a reception which provides an opportunity for members of the public to meet the speaker, Irish Studies Centre staff and other members of the audience. Past speakers have included An Uachtarainn Mary McAleese, An Taoiseach na hÉireann Bertie Ahern, writers Edna O'Brien and Joseph O'Connor, professors Seamus Deane and Roy Foster, politicians David Ervine and Bernadette McAliskey, journalists Fergal Keane and Finlan O'Toole and QC Helena Kennedy.
The Cultural programme is relevant to anyone who has an interest in the history and current affairs of Ireland and the Irish abroad.
