Donncha Ó Dúlaing (15 March 1933 – 4 September 2021)
was an Irish broadcaster who was known country-wide and among the Irish around the world for his cultural and traditional music programmes.
Career
Ó Dúlaing was born in
County Cork
County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
. His broadcasting career began when he joined
Radio Éireann in 1964.
His ''Highways and Byways'' radio series on
RTÉ Radio One became hugely popular as did his television series on
RTÉ Television. He was the former head of features,
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a division and service of Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), which broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels across Ireland.
Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, was the first broadcaster in ...
.
He became universally known for his fundraising walks for charity in Ireland, the UK, France and Israel and among the
Choctaw Indians in the USA, who had contributed to the victims of the
famine in Ireland in the 1840s. His walks, sometimes up to 43 miles per day, have helped raise many hundreds of thousands in funds for charity since the 1980s.
Ó Dúlaing presented the hour-long programme ''Fáilte Isteach'' at 10 pm on Saturday evenings on
RTÉ
(; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
Radio 1 and had thousands of listeners among the Irish diaspora who would enter his 'Parlour of Dreams' where 'many dreams came true' on the programme. He celebrated 50 years in broadcasting in February 2014 and presented the last Fáilte Isteach on 25 April 2015.
The president of Ireland,
Michael D. Higgins, presented a specially commissioned sculpture to him at
Áras an Uachtaráin in
Phoenix Park, Dublin in August 2014 in recognition of his contribution to Irish culture.
A 288-page illustrated memoir titled ''Donncha's World- the Roads, the Stories and the Wireless'', co-authored with writer Declan Lyons and launched by his friend, the singer
Daniel O'Donnell, in September 2014, tells the story of his life and career, his walks, his broadcasts and the national and internationally famous people he has interviewed and met including President
Eamon de Valera,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
,
Edna O'Brien,
Rosie Hackett,
Mick Jagger, Sir
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...
and
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
.
Ó Dúlaing and his wife Vera (''née'' Galvin) lived in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
near RTÉ Headquarters in
Donnybrook.
Death
Ó Dúlaing died on 4 September 2021, aged 88.
References
Sources
* ''Autobiography: Walking and talking'', Blackwater Press 1998
External links
RTÉ website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODulaing, Donncha
1933 births
2021 deaths
Irish radio presenters
Broadcasters from County Cork