Towards 250 Years of Modern Languages at Third Level

Ireland has one of the longest traditions of modern language teaching at university-level in the world, thanks to the first positions in French, German, Italian and Spanish, established in Trinity College Dublin in 1776. By 2026, we will be celebrating 250 years of modern languages at third level in Ireland.

To open up important and highly topical conversations around the value and significance of language-learning and plurilingualism, we started a series of four events: The first one took place in 2023 at the Royal Irish Academy with contributions from leaders in business, academia and diplomacy and a keynote from then Tánaiste Micheál Martin (see https://www.ria.ie/2025/03/04/towards-250-years-of-modern-languages/), followed by the second in Queen’s University Belfast in 2024.

We now invite you to the third and penultimate event, held in Mary Immaculate College and the University of Limerick on 28 November 2025, before the final celebration in TCD in October 2026.

Tickets are free and are available here on a first-come first served basis.

Click here for the full event programme

Click here for more event information

Click here for information on why learning a language is so important