RTÉ broadcaster Donncha Ó Dúlaing dies aged 88

Tributes have been paid to veteran RTÉ broadcaster Donncha Ó Dúlaing who has died aged 88.

Mr Ó Dúlaing, from Doneraile, Co Cork, presented radio and TV programmes for RTÉ for more than 50 years.

He was best known for his Highways and Byways series and, more recently, Fáilte Isteach on RTÉ Radio One. He did a farewell broadcast from the slot in April 2015.

President Michael D Higgins said: "With his passing, Ireland has lost a widely respected and influential broadcaster, part of a generation of ground-breaking presenters and journalists who shaped Irish public broadcasting.

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“We owe him a debt of gratitude for his contribution to Irish culture.”

In addition, “he will be remembered for his love of his native Cork and its heroic personalities and traditions, his generosity of spirit and his tireless efforts in support of many charitable causes, including the famous walks for such purposes, invoking the spirit of place and local history,” Mr Higgins said.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin described Ó Dúlaing as “an outstanding broadcaster who brought much joy to his loyal listeners over the decades”, while Minister for Arts Catherine Martin said the Irish music tradition was “all the richer” thanks to Ó Dúlaing.

She added it was “very sad saying goodbye to two legends of Irish broadcasting in such a short space of time”, also acknowledging the death of RTÉ’s Rodney Rice (76) who died a week ago.

RTÉ director general Dee Forbes said Ó Dúlaing’s long-running programmes were “as iconic as the man himself”.

Storytelling style

Famous for his lyrical storytelling style, Ó Dúlaing was a household name throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Pat Kenny recalled recently how his big radio breakthrough came when Ó Dúlaing went to America allowing the younger man to take over for three weeks on his radio show.

In interviews, Ó Dúlaing spoke about his father dying when he was just 13 and the impact this had on his family. His mother observed strict mourning protocol for a whole year, even covering the radio with a black cloth.

Ó Dúlaing left school at 15 and spent the next eight years as a dental technician. He read avidly, his beloved Irish poetry and Penguin paperbacks. His lifelong love affair with the GAA began when he watched Cork and Tipperary play to a draw in Limerick in 1949. His then girlfriend Vera, a teacher, encouraged him to further his education.

The couple later married and had five children. He completed an arts degree in University College Cork and graduated with honours at the age of 28. After a brief stint as a teacher, the fluent Irish-speaker left to become a trainee manager with Ford in Dagenham, England.

When he went for the interview for programme assistant at Radio Éireann’s regional office in Cork, they asked him why he wanted the job. “I think radio will broaden my mind,” he said. “And if you don’t get this job?” “I’ll apply again.”

Big break

His first interviews were featured in a weekly magazine programme called A Woman's World produced by the late Síle Ní Bhríain. But his big break came when he propositioned the late president Eamon de Valera, who had attended his old school in Charleville, about conducting an interview about his childhood in Bruree, Co Limerick.

“I’d like to do a series of interviews with you,” said Ó Dúlaing . “Why?” asked de Valera after a pause. “Because you’re the only one from my school who became president,” he answered.

A series of programmes entitled The Boy from Bruree emerged, although A Munster Journal was his most prolific series from this time. He moved to Dublin and was promoted to head of features but subsequently resigned from the post, anxious to get back on the road.

In 1972 he began co-presenting a mid-afternoon programme that morphed into Highways and Byways where he travelled the country talking to musicians, teachers, the old and the young about their life and stories. It was axed 10 years later amid speculation that RTÉ was concerned that Ó Dúlaing’s nationalistic overtones in some interviews might breach section 31 of the Broadcasting Act.

A 1998 Irish Times profile by Róisín Ingle described how at the age of 65 he was presenting his music and requests programme Fáilte Isteach from his self-operated studio like "a child with a new toy". Pressing buttons, locating CDs and interacting with an audience that includes listeners in central Europe and middle America. "He treats every broadcast like the first. He has huge enthusiasm and life in him," a friend remarked.

Around that time, Ó Dúlaing lamented that Radio Éireann had “lost the soul of Ireland”, saying it was only concerned with losing listeners. “They’re all out of step but me,” he was known to say.

Ó Dúlaing is survived by four sons. He was predeceased by his daughter, Sinéad, and by his wife, Vera, who died last Sunday.