Upcoming Events

National | History and Heritage

no events match your query!

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Army Sergeant Travis Decker Murdered His Three Children After Being Denied Mental Health Care at JBL... Sat Jun 07, 2025 04:52 | JBLM Whistleblowers
A corrupt military police force and incompetent Commander who denied emergency mental health care and crisis counseling to an American service member resulted in the murder of the sergeant's three young daughters

offsite link Gaza doctor grieves her nine children killed in Israeli strike Sun May 25, 2025 20:00 | imc
Israeli regime continues it's slaughter
'The children were completely charred'

Paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar was treating victims of Israeli attacks when her children were killed by an Israeli strike on their home

offsite link British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ?slaughterhouse? Sat May 24, 2025 00:23 | imc
There?s no food getting in so people are starving,? surgeon Tom Potokar says
British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a ?slaughterhouse,? where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023,

offsite link It is time to talk about the Out of Control Immigration. Mon Mar 31, 2025 22:12 | imc
For the last few years since the CV19 scamdemic undocumented immigration into Ireland has surged. No one is allowed discuss it because they do not want any rational debate about it. If you do you are labelled an extremist. However this out of control immigration is fully facilitated by the Irish government and the EU and the shady figure behind the Neo Con movement pushing for endless war, wokeism and globalist agenda.

offsite link [Dublin] National Demonstration for Palestine: End Israeli Apartheid & Genocide Thu Mar 06, 2025 22:35 | ipsc
Sat, 22 March 2025, 13:00 Assemble at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by over 150 Irish civil society organisations, has called another National Demonstration for Palestine on Saturday 22nd March.

The march will begin at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm and finish outside the D?il on Molesworth Street/Kildare Street to bring our demands to the Irish government?s doorstep.

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Chief archaeologist only has basic degree

category national | history and heritage | other press author Wednesday December 07, 2005 00:17author by Muireann Ni Bhrolchainauthor email muireann at indigo dot ieauthor address www.taraskryne.orgauthor phone 087-9249510 Report this post to the editors

Irish Times - Chief archaeologist only has basic degree
Frank McDonald, Environmental Editor, 5th December 2005

Brian Duffy, chief archaeologist of the Department of the Environment, was
appointed to his post even though he has only a general BA degree in archaeology
and no track record of archaeological excavations or publications, The Irish
Times has established.

Mr Duffy got the job in July 2003, ahead of candidates with superior
qualifications and professional experience - notably Dr Ann Lynch, who holds a
PhD in archaeology and has led excavations at sensitive sites such as
Poulnabrone in Co Clare and Tintern Abbey, Co Wexford.

The job specification for chief archaeologist requires, among other things, a
person with "strong leadership qualities, management skills and sound judgment"
who would motivate and manage a staff of 40 and provide "expert professional
advice on archaeology as required".

Competition for the post was confined to senior archaeologists in the
department's heritage section. None of the three eligible applicants was
interviewed; they were merely invited to submit a form describing their work,
previous experience and other relevant information.

These written applications were reviewed by Mary Moylan, assistant secretary at
the department's planning division, and Michael Canny, assistant secretary,
corporate services. Eight days later, they recommended that Mr Duffy should be
appointed by Martin Cullen.

Prof John Waddell, head of the department of archaeology at NUI Galway, from
where Mr Duffy graduated in 1971, said his appointment caused surprise because
people were aware of his lack of qualifications and experience of excavation work.

"He has no post-graduate qualifications and, to the best of my knowledge, he has
never written anything or published anything on mainstream archaeology, in
contrast to most of his colleagues in the department, some of whom have PhDs and
many of whom have master's degrees.

"He has never directed an archaeological excavation and has no experience in
that area whatsoever, though he might have participated in one as a student 30
years ago. He also got his BA long before landscape archaeology became an
important area of research."

Prof Waddell said Mr Duffy's "incomprehensible lack of knowledge of what
constitutes an archaeological landscape" was evident in the advice he gave
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche on the plan to route the M3 motorway
through the Tara-Skryne valley in Co Meath. "In failing to address the question
that the Tara landscape constitutes an archaeological area . . . the chief
archaeologist, the department and the Minister failed in their duty of care in
respect of the country's heritage," he said in an affidavit for the High Court
case on the M3.

Mr Duffy's qualifications were also called into question during a recent Circuit
Court case in which his predecessor, David Sweetman, successfully sued
Associated Newspapers, publishers of Ireland on Sunday, for libel over an
article on the Carrickmines case.

When his counsel, Garrett Cooney SC, noted that Mr Duffy was involved in
Carrickmines and commented that he was "a well-known and well-qualified
archaeologist", Mr Sweetman said: "Well, actually, Brian Duffy isn't well-known
and, in my opinion, not well-qualified."

In the Tara case, Mr Duffy expressed the view that the M3 motorway "will be a
monument of major significance in the future". And in dealing with the Woodstown
Viking site in Waterford, he argued that it could be "preserved in situ" by
rolling the N25 Waterford bypass over it.

But Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum, insisted that the site was
of such importance that it would have to be excavated. Without naming Mr Duffy,
he challenged the view of those "who for some inexplicable reason seem to think
it would be better covered over".

Two months after becoming chief archaeologist, Mr Duffy dismissed the view that
Woodstown was a Viking longphort - which is what it turned out to be - as a
"speculative notion of the site's nature, with absolutely no archaeological
evidence to support it".

In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, the department
refused to release any details of Mr Duffy's academic qualifications, his
professional career, what archaeological excavations he has carried out and what
publications he has to his credit, if any.

The department cited section 28 of the Freedom of Information Act, which covers
the disclosure of personal information, saying it considered "on balance [ that]
the public interest in protecting the privacy of the individual in this case
outweighs the public interest in releasing the information".

Personnel officer Dave Fadden recently informed the Institute of Archaeologists
of Ireland that the process used to appoint Mr Duffy was "in line with the
department's policy on filling internal positions at this level" and that the
"most suitable candidate" had been selected.

In a statement, the department said Mr Duffy was a qualified archaeologist who
has served in the National Monuments Service since 1976 "dealing with a wide
range of archaeological issues including the Archaeological Survey of Ireland,
conservation programmes at national monuments and all aspects of
development-related archaeology".

Though the statement confirmed that the three candidates for the post had been
"rated" based on written submissions, it said an arrangement has now been
introduced that senior professional posts in the department "are filled on the
basis of competitive interview".

author by pat cpublication date Wed Dec 07, 2005 16:18author address author phone Report this post to the editors

he doesnt even have a PHD from Pacific North Western University.

what is worrying from a trade union viewpoint is that a proper competitive interview/exam was not held. this would seem to be in breach of regulations.

author by Yes Manpublication date Wed Dec 07, 2005 16:41author address author phone Report this post to the editors

the Government appointed a 'yes man'..

That explains part of the problem. I wouldn't say ignorance is obviously the problem with some of the crazy decisions made, but it might apply here..

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy