Breandan O hEithir biography launched

The late Breandan O hEithir (1930-1990) was probably the most accomplished bilingual Irish writer and broadcaster of the last half-century, Prof Gearoid O Tuathaigh of NUI Galway has said.

Marking the publication of O hEithir's biography by the journalist Liam Mac Con Iomaire, in Galway last night, Prof O Tuathaigh said O hEithir's versatility and prolific output probably led him to be taken for granted.

However, the significance of his total corpus of writings was very impressive and the range and extent of his prose proved that he was closer to the US journalistic tradition than many of his peers.

The biography was commissioned by Foras na Gaeilge and draws on diary material kept by the late journalist and broadcaster.

Mac Con Iomaire describes O hEithir's Aran Island background - as nephew of the writer Liam O'Flaherty and greatgrandson of a Northern Protestant engineer. O hEithir dropped out of college before completing his degree.

He worked as Irish language editor with Sairseal agus Dill and in 1957 became Irish language editor of the Irish Press.

At this stage, he had married Ms Catherine von Hildebrand, and in 1963 he left the Irish Press and went with her and their two children to her native Germany. He spent nearly two years there and during this period he began writing for The Irish Times.

On returning from Germany, he worked with RTE on the current affairs series, Feach, with Eoghan Harris and Sean O Mordha.

From 1984, when he published Over the Bar, he produced a book a year until his death.

Breandan O hEithir, Iomramh Aonair le Liam Mac Con Iomaire is published by Clo IarChonnachta at £20.