The broadcaster and journalist Eamonn O Muiri died yesterday, aged 55. He died of cancer in Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin, after a short illness. He is survived by his wife, Deirdre, and three children. A fourth child died in a tragic accident in 1990.
From Inchicore in Dublin, Mr O Muiri worked for Gael Linn and Conradh na Gaeilge before joining is Eireann RTE in 1969. He worked in the Irish-language current affairs programme each' Feach throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, and E said yesterday he covered reported on all the major political stories during that period.
As a documentary-maker he covered such diverse topics as the history of the Labour Party and the Irish Army in the Lebanon, and did profiles of the former Labour minister from Galway, Mr Michael D. Higgins, and the then Irish ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Noel Dorr. He covered the Moscow Olympics in 1980. He won a Jacob's Award for a documentary on heart surgery, The Heart of the Matter, and later joined the Today Tonight team.
An active member of the National Union of Journalists, Mr O Muiri served several times periods of office as father of the chapel (shop steward) in the television programmes area, most recently from 1995 to 1997.
A keen sportsman, he was captain of the RTE Golfing Society in 1980, and a member of Bray Golf Club in Co Wicklow. He ran in last autumn's Dublin City Marathon.
The body will be removed from Stafford's Funeral Home, North Strand, to arrive at Newtownpark Avenue Church at 7.30 p.m. today. Burial will take place at Shanganagh Cemetery following the funeral Mass at 9.15 a.m. tomorrow.