Eamonn O Muiri, broadcaster and journalist, who died on May 6th, was one of Ireland's pioneers in the field of Irish language current affairs television programming. He was 54. Joining RTE in 1969, he worked alongside Proinsias MacAonghusa and Brendan O hEithir infronting the then-fledgling programme Feach. The trio quickly established the programme as an authoritative, distinctive and integral part of the current affairs schedule. Such was their skill and talent and the solid foundation they laid that the programme continued through the 1970s, and into the 1980s. In time, Eamonn Mr O Muiri became the main anchorman of the programme. Inevitably his style borrowed pace from that of his two older mentors but he also had his own very distinctive touch. Whether it was in studio or on location, he was easy, relaxed, always well informed, and robustly combative when the occasion demanded.
Much of his success as a broadcaster was due to his detailed knowledge and understanding of what his colleague and friend, John O'Donoghue, would call the Irish political mazurka. Being a former dance master himself he appreciated its intricacies. He loved politics. As he used to say, "wasn't it great to get paid for your hobby!" But he worked assiduously to maintain an extraordinary range of cross-party contacts, trade unionists and business people. This was very much in evidence at his funeral where people of every rank and file, and none, from all parts of the country, were in attendance.
Mr O Muiri came to broadcasting from Gael Linn and Conradh na Gaeilge. He worked in Rosmuc with the former organisation and in Dublin, for the latter. Through these he enhanced and deepened his love of the Irish language that he had learnt at school in Dublin. All through his life he was very committed to the furtherance of Irish but he was in no way fanatical about it. In fact, he would watch the zealots and irredentists with wry amusement and comment sagely: "There but for the grace of God . . ." His reportage did a lot for the Irish language and Irish culture. His authoritative presence on screen, matched by his fairness and integrity made him eminently credible, never more so than during the hunger strikes in Northern Ireland in the early 1980s. The time was volatile and the situation friable. Some journalists came under ideological pressures to skew reportage and to trim sail. Mr O Muiri did not. He stuck to his professional last in a way that won him the respect of all, North and South. On occasion he was a great man to use the odd classical saw. One of his favourites was, Sutor ne ultra crepidam (Shoemaker don't leave your last). He lived it too.
After the death of his friend, Donal Foley, he Eamonn toyed with the idea of print journalism and wrote a series of satirical pieces for this newspaper called In the Village. However, his gregarious nature and the atomistic style of television production held greater attraction for him. During the 1980s he proved himself to be an accomplished and versatile radio presenter. With producer, Simon Devilly, he worked on a series of documentaries, one of which, The Heart of the Mater, won him a Jacobs Award. The programme was about heart transplants and the work of his friend, Dr Maurice Neligan. But television was where his own heart was and he soon returned to Iris and, latterly, to Prime Time, his last assignment.
Whether he worked in radio or television, Eamonn Mr O Muiri was true to himself and to his background. Born in Inchicore, he was very much the product of the close, classless society where neighbourliness reigned supreme and where people were valued by their true worth. This was the base he worked from all of the time, but particularly so when he became Father of the Chapel (chief shop steward), Broadcasting Branch, of the National Union of Journalists. Twice he held this title, operating on behalf of colleagues with their grievances and working conditions. To him the NUJ was more than just a union. It meant fraternity and collegiality. One remembers the occasion when he was offered a staff position. He refused it for months until his colleague on the same programme was made a similar offer and both of them could move on together. That was the measure of the man and he never changed.
For a number of years he was involved with the Irish Heart Transplant Association. He became so after the tragic death of his second daughter Aoife, in 1990. He was manager of the association's sports team on a number of occasions when they travelled abroad to take part in the International Transplant Games. Aoife was always very special to him and he intended writing a book about her, the first chapter of which he had completed.
Sport of all kinds constituted a great part of his life. "The Hill" was a favourite spot of his on those Sundays when he would not be playing golf in Bray. He also captained the RT E Golf Society. In the last few years he had taken to running marathons and just prior to his recent illness he had run in the Dublin City Marathon and in the New York Marathon with Dick Hooper's Troopers on behalf of Cerebral Palsy Ireland.
He Eamonn will surely be missed, not only by Deirdre, his wife, Ailbhe, Cliona and Fiachra, his children, but also by his many friends throughout the country and particularly in RTE which he loved as an extended family. His wit and humour, his care for those in the organisation who needed a helping hand (and it was done so quietly), his support of the underdog and, above all, his sense of public service and of his ambassadorial role for RTE, marked him out as somebody special. His contribution was immense.
Eamonn O Muiri: born 1945; died May,1999