Forget what the calendars say. The real millennium begins next Tuesday, at the Newgrange National Monument in Co Meath, on the day of the winter solstice. RTE will have four cameras ready inside the passage grave to broadcast every moment as the sunlight tracks slowly across the floor of this ancient structure.
Only about 20 people a year can witness this event as it occurs inside the narrow passage grave, but those who have seen it describe it as memorable. "It really is an amazing thing to see," said Ms Leontia Lenehan, who supervises guides at Newgrange. "You do get goosebumps. It is wonderful. It is spiritual, too."
She described what it was like to be inside the burial chamber at the arrival of the solstice dawn. "It literally starts off with a tiny sliver of light, like a blade of grass." It first appears at 8.58 a.m. and for the next six minutes grows larger and brighter, "a very rich and vibrant shaft of light on the floor". It shimmers for a time before gradually shrinking and disappearing completely by 9.15 a.m.
She pointed out that the view inside, of stone walls and ceilings, some with ornate carvings, was the same as what our ancestors saw when it was built in 3200BC. The Newgrange passage grave was "one of the oldest [intact] roofed structures in the world".
Newgrange is one of only three UNESCO World Heritage Sites on this island, testimony to the fact that its stunningly accurate solstice alignment makes it one of the world's oldest known astronomical observatories, predating Stonehenge by about 1,000 years.
It is perhaps the spiritual dimension described by Ms Lenehan and the tenuous connection between those who built Newgrange and those who visit it today that RTE hopes to capture with its cameras next Tuesday. The station is leaving nothing to chance, however, and its preparations for the event are firmly footed in the realities of commerce and showmanship.
It will provide live coverage from before dawn on the 21st, which comes mercifully late, at 8.58 a.m. It also plans to send the images out live over the Internet.
RTE has offered the programming to members of the European Broadcasting Union and other television companies. Its invitation has been taken up so far by companies in Denmark, Cyprus, Portugal, Belarus, Macedonia and Bosnia. CBS plans to carry the event some hours later on its Good Morning America programme.
The show, which will run for a full hour from 8.30 a.m., will be anchored by Brian Dobson at the Bru Na Boinne interpretative centre in the Boyne valley, which covers the Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth neolithic sites. Joe Duffy will be reporting from outside the passage grave and will be supported by the meteorologist Gerard Fleming, who will keep viewers informed if the weather spoils the live show.
RTE also has a fallback position if the sun fails to shine next Tuesday, Mr Peter Feeney, who heads the company's millennium programming, said. It has film from last year's solstice when the sun shone brightly and used artificial light during supplementary filming last summer to ensure a dramatic Newgrange experience.
Clearly RTE will be hoping to show the real thing, Mr Feeney said. It will have two outside broadcast units committed to the project. "We are gambling we will get a clear sky," he said, but they will also have the film "to show the viewers what they will be missing if it is cloudy".
The Newgrange visitor services manager, Ms Clare Tuffy, will answer questions from inside the passage grave, and other archaeologists have been lined up to explain its significance.
RTE commissioned the Eurovision winner, Emer Quinn, to write a song to mark the occasion. She will perform it live on the 21st at the visitors' centre.
The idea for the first live Newgrange broadcast arose when RTE was considering its millennium coverage, Mr Feeney said. "We would claim that this is the real beginning of the new millennium," he said.
RTE approached the Heritage Service and discovered that Duchas was planning to approach RTE with the same idea.
E will hope to keep home viewers entertained and watching, Mr Feeney said the real human drama of the site should still shine through. "What an extraordinary achievement," he said. "They got it right and 5,000 years later it still works."
The RTE1 broadcast starts at 8.30 a.m. next Tuesday, December 21st. Live pictures from Newgrange will be broadcast over the Internet E's address at: http://www.rte.ie