Longford mourns the death of award- winning broadcaster, historian and author

Writer, historian and adopted Longford man Aidan O’Hara passed away, peacefully surrounded by his loving family, at the age of 84, on Sunday, June 11.

Aidan led an eventful life that brought him from his native Donegal to the Farrell county via Canada. He worked as a presenter and producer with RTÉ and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

He lived in Longford for over 20 years, and in that time published a number of books. His many publications include the books I’ll Live Till I Die: The Story of Delia Murphy and Atlantic Gaels: Links between Donegal and the Hebrides.

Aidan has also written numerous articles, including in Teathbha, the Journal of County Longford Historical Society.
He was a graduate of St Mary's College (now Marino Institute of Education), and pursued his postgraduate studies at University of Ottawa and Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.
Aidan taught Communications and Media Studies in Dublin, Ireland: Communications Centre, Booterstown, the Tallaght Institute of Technology, and Dublin City University.

Through his company, Ashton Media Services, he taught Communication skills to school leavers, business executives, politicians, medical professionals and church leaders.
He presented three acclaimed Radharc documentaries on the Irish of Newfoundland on RTE 1 in the 1980s – one of them the award-winning, The Forgotten Irish – and he has been a contributor and consultant in several TV series.

Aidan’s story of the Irish in Newfoundland, Na Gaeil i dTalamh an Éisc, was published in 1998. It won the Oireachtas '97 literary award for a work in prose, and was nominated for The Irish Times Literature Prize in 1999 for a work in the Irish language.

Aidan was a keen historian with a special interest in the Irish emigration experience and was an active member of the Longford Historical Society. He wrote regularly for Irish Music Magazine and contributed articles on historic matters to journals and newspapers around the country, including the Longford Leader.

He was also a member of the Knocklyon History Society (Dublin), Cumann Seanchais Ard Mhacha (The Armagh Diocesan Historical Society), and the County Donegal Historical Society. Aidan served as Chairman of the Emmet and Devlin Committee, and was a founding member of the Association of Canadian Studies in Ireland.

In February of this year, Aidan’s book ‘A Damn Yankee, Am I? Thanks! Portraits of the Irish in the Era of the American Civil War’, was launched in Longford library by Dr Fergus O’Ferrall.

On the evening, Dr O’Ferrall described Aidan as ‘a very distinguished member of the County Longford Historical Society, a leading local historian amongst a very remarkable generation of Longford’s historians’.
Dr O’Ferrall added, “Aidan’s breadth of interests as an historian is reflected in the well over twenty significant essays he has contributed to Teathbha, the very impressive journal of the County Longford Historical Society.
“Aidan has written about critical episodes in the land struggle, about personalities, such as Francis Hutcheson, the philosopher, Bishop Magauran in the 1820s, and Henry Inglis, who toured the county in the 1830s.

“Aidan’s particular interest and expertise in emigration is the subject of six essays; in addition we have his key essay on this central aspect of the Irish experience- emigration- in Longford History and Society, edited by Martin Morris and myself in 2010. Other essays cover music and tradition and the struggle of self- government and independence.

“This major contribution, casting such new light on our county’s past, is all the more remarkable when we know that Aidan only came to live in County Longford in 2004 but, of course, Longford was his late father’s county. It is to be hoped that these essays in Teathbha will be collected and published in book form as they merit a prominent place on the shelf and desks of everyone interested in both Longford’s and indeed Ireland’s past.

“An award-winning broadcaster, I first met Aidan when I was a student on a Radio Communication course back in the early 1980s and have greatly admired his career ever since. Aidan has a special interest in the Irish of Newfoundland and he has presented three acclaimed Radharc documentaries on the Irish of Newfoundland and won a literary award for Na Gaeil i dTalamh an Eisc telling their story.”

Predeceased by his parents Marjorie (nee Curran) and James O'Hara (Drumlish, Co Longford), sister Mona Doherty and brothers Brendan, Eamon and Colm, the late Aidan will be remembered in the hearts and minds of all that knew his passion and love for Ireland's cultural arts and heritage.

Always remembered with love by his family, his devoted wife Joyce, daughter Kathleen, sons Sean, Brian and Conor, daughter-in-law Fionnag, son-in-law Brendan, grandchildren Eoghan, Laoise, Sorcha, Órla, Ró and Chloe, sisters Kathleen and Carol, his twin brother Mel, sisters-in-law , brothers-in-law , cousins, nieces, nephews, relatives and his many friends and colleagues around the world. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílís.