The archive of renowned Irish playwright and composer Seán Ó Riada has been acquired by one of the country's leading universities, it was announced yesterday.
University College Cork (UCC) paid €500,000 for the Seán Ó Riada archive, which includes documents, papers, correspondence and instruments belonging to the late musician.
The archive has been obtained from the Ó Riada family who have preserved his collection at his home in Ballyvourney, a Gaeltacht area in west Cork, since his death in 1971 at the age of 40.
Making the announcement of the acquisition, made with the co-operation of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, the president of UCC, Prof Gerry Wrixon said: "This is a collection that is immensely important in the cultural and musical history of this country."
Ó Riada achieved national prominence in the 1960s when he wrote the score for Mise Éire, a documentary about the Irish War of Independence.
He founded a group called Ceoltóirí Cualann (The Musicians of Cualann), which helped to revive Irish traditional music.
Three of its members - Paddy Moloney, Martin Fay, and Sean Keane - went on to form the Chieftains.
As well as his composing work, Ó Riada was also a playwright, a newspaper columnist and a strong enthusiast for the Irish language.
The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism provided UCC with the €500,000 required to acquire it from the family, as well as another €100,000 to pay for conservation and public display.
UCC is currently building an extension to its library, which will include a public reading room named after Ó Riada.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said yesterday: "It is timely that his work and legacy will be permanently safeguarded and displayed in UCC as Cork begins its period at the centre of Europe's cultural life, as European Cultural Capital 2005."
UCC's librarian, Mr John Fitzgerald, said he was delighted that the collection would stay in Ireland as it had attracted the attention of other institutions abroad, most notably in the US.
Ó Riada studied music at UCC in the 1950s and taught there as a lecturer in the following decade.
"He achieved a huge amount in a short life. His biggest achievement was to modernise or re-interpret Irish traditional music," said Mr Fitzgerald.