In a week where The Blackrock Castle Observatory won the prestigious Thea Science Award for 'Outstanding Achievement' the Cork Independent talked to Claire MacSweeney, facility manager at the Observatory to get more of an insight on the exciting work done at the newly redeveloped Blackrock Castle.

"The Observatory is really delighted to achieve such an honour. The award has never been given to a project outside of the United States so it confirms our international status as a science centre", said Clare.

The 'Cosmos in the Castle' project which was honoured with the Thea award, involved the redevelopment of the castle as a centre for scientific research, outreach and communication .The Castle houses Ireland's first fully interactive astronomy centre, developed by the award-winning multi-media company Martello Media.

"There is conflicting claims going around about who was actually responsible for establishing the Blackrock Castle Observatory so I think it is important to get things straight. It was Cllr. John Kelleher's idea to restore the castle into a science centre but it was Dr. Niall Smith, principal scientist at Blackrock Castle Observatory and head of research at Cork Institute of Technology, who actually brought the idea into fruition", said Clare.

Blackrock Castle was purchased by Cork Corporation in 2001, it had previously been used as a restaurant and also, a private residence . The Castle was restored in 2004 and The Blackrock Castle Observatory was opened as a science and research centre in 2005.

The castle houses a team of astronomical researchers from Cork Institute of Technology who have been working on the development of the exhibition and the construction of Ireland's first robotic observatory.

"We have had a huge amount of interest from the public since winning the Thea Award. The phones haven't stopped hopping and it's great that all the hard work of our researchers has paid off. We have had calls from RTE, TV3 news and many more".

Claire adopted her love of astronomy from her Father who is an amateur astrologist, "My father often brought me out to the garden at night to look up at the sky and this is how I developed an interest in Astrology. So when I saw this position at the Observatory I jumped at the chance".