Berlin's Celtic Studies School may not be able to open, despitefunding from the Irish Government, writes Derek Scally in Berlin

Time is running out to save the Celtic Studies School at Berlin's Humboldt University. The school, founded in the eastern part of the city 102 years ago, survived two world wars and the Communist regime, but swingeing budget cuts brought down the shutters last year.

Now the final chance to re-open the school, with Irish funding, is in danger at the last minute.

Four years ago, with the chill wind of cutbacks blowing through German universities, academics at the Humboldt University asked the Government in Dublin for funding to save the Celtic Studies School.

With Ireland's boom in full swing, there was money for everything, and Éamon Ó Cuív, then Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, gave the green light. The Government would contribute €25,000 per annum for four years to keep things ticking over and a further €270,000 to help fund a chair of Celtic Studies in the medium term.

But there was one condition: matching funding had to be secured from at least one other Celtic administration, such as Scotland, Wales or the Isle of Man. Since then, German professors and Irish Embassy officials in Berlin have spent countless hours and several trees-worth of paper on correspondence to chase up further funding from Edinburgh and Cardiff, but so far without success. Approaches for private funding from German companies in Ireland and Scotland have met a similar fate.

Now the fight to save the school has entered its end game. Dublin has said that unless matching funds can be secured, the Irish funding will be withdrawn at the end of the year. Slow curtain on Celtic Studies.

"It is vitally important that Celtic Studies in Berlin be saved," says Dr Seán Ó Riain, first secretary in the Irish Embassy in Berlin.

He points out that the efforts of German-speaking scholars such as Rudolf Thurneysen and Prof Johann Kaspar Zeuss played a huge role in helping Douglas Hyde win the debate on the value of Irish as a school subject in 1899. Grammtica Celtica, completed by Prof Zeuss in 1853, was the first detailed and comprehensive written grammar of the Celtic languages.

"They were invaluable in overcoming prejudice against Irish in establishment circles," says Dr Ó Riain.

Celtic Studies programmes in Germany and Austria have taken a battering of late: courses have been cut to the bone if not abolished altogether, despite a growing interest in all things Celtic around Europe.

"The school was closed just as the image of the Celt was establishing itself in academic circles," says Judith Schachtmann, a former student of the Celtic Studies School. "To let this Celtic image sit there uncommented on is completely wrong as well as dangerous."

That's a view shared by academics in Berlin.

"Anything that is no longer taught is abused. I've had offers from neo-Nazi groups who say 'there is money available if you work with us'," says Dr Sabine Heinz, the former acting head of the school.

Underground neo-Nazi groups are, like the Nazis before them, interested in abusing Celtic mythology, symbolism and ideas for their own ends.

"We have queries from witches too," says Dr Heinz. "What we are witnessing is a flight into the esoteric in the absence of a proper academic framework."

Celtic Studies in Berlin is unique in focusing on the modern, unlike universities in Ireland that focus on the ancient past. A new programme would bring Celtic Studies into the 21st century, with courses on the modern languages and literature, as well as the cultural politics of minority languages and subjects like devolution.

"Gone are the days when a subject like this could exist for its own sake," says Dr George Broderick, responsible for Celtic Studies at the University of Mannheim. "For that reason, we've developed a study programme that is modern and will interest students, even business students."

Even if no funding is found by the end of the year there is a faint glimmer of hope. It has been mooted that the Irish Government might be willing to make its substantial funds available for a modified course, with the Irish language and culture at its core and Scotland and the Isle of Man on the periphery. Wales and Scotland would perhaps then be more willing to put in money when they begin to see movement.

A German foundation has already agreed to give a 10 per cent top-up to any funds raised from the private sector, while the Humboldt University has said it would be ready to take over the running costs of the programme in the medium term.

Although just a few months remain before the funding deadline, it looks like the fight to save Celtic Studies in Berlin will go down to the wire. As Dr Heinz puts it: "Why not fight for something you believe in?"