Before his appointment as Dean of Research & Humanities, Ciarán Mac Murchaidh was Senior Lecturer in the Department of Irish at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. His principal teaching and research interests lie in the area of 18th century religious literature in Irish.
His grammar of the Irish language for undergraduate students, 'Cruinnscríobh na Gaeilge' (Cois Life) was published in 2002, the fourth edition of which appeared in 2012. He was editor of a general collection of essays in English on the importance of the Irish language in 2004, 'Who needs Irish? Reflections on the importance of the Irish language today' (Veritas). Dr Mac Murchaidh has also published two bilingual and thematic anthologies of Irish language poetry. Among his latest publications is a volume of essays on the interface between the Irish and English languages, co-edited with Professor James Kelly: 'Essays on the Irish linguistic and cultural frontier, 1600-1900' (Four Courts, 2012).