Born: 29 July 1957, Ireland
Died: 19 September 2016
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Máire O’Toole
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Niav Gallagher. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Ní Thuathail, Máire (1957–2016), businessperson and television producer, was born on 29 July 1957 in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, the eldest of three girls and four boys, to Tomás O’Toole, farmer, shop owner and publican (who was distantly related to novelist and short-story writer Pádraic Ó Conaire), and his wife Brigid (Bid) (née Ford) from Gurteen, Co. Galway. In addition to running O’Toole’s shop and bar in Tourmakeady, Tomás and Bid also owned a farm where they raised sheep and cows, selling the meat and milk in their shop. Although there was little time for family holidays away from Tourmakeady, their home was a hub for visitors and in the summer was inundated with cousins, uncles and aunts. During the holidays the children worked in the shop and bar, or helped on the family farm, and on fine days Bid took them swimming in nearby Lough Mask (Ní Thuathail’s siblings were Fionnuala, Sheila, Caoimhín, Peadar, Dónal and Conor). Living in a Gaeltacht area, Ní Thuathail grew up speaking Irish fluently both at home and in school but, because her mother spoke little Irish, it was rarely used in the kitchen or the sitting room.
Both Bid and Tomás considered education very important and Bid in particular endeavoured to foster the potential she recognised in her eldest daughter. Having attended the nearby Tríanláir national school (now Tourmakeady national school), Ní Thuathail was sent as a boarder to Coláiste Muire, Tourmakeady, despite the school being only 2km from the family home (her parents reasoned that she could focus more intently on her studies without the distraction of six younger siblings). Ní Thuathail only returned home during the holidays, although the girl boarders were allowed to walk to the village every Sunday for two hours. After sitting her leaving certificate in June 1974, Ní Thuathail took a year out to undergo a surgical procedure on her leg before starting a degree in agricultural science in University College Galway in 1975. Much of the teaching was through Irish and lecturers such as Máirín de Valera were exacting taskmasters (undergraduate work experience included a stint as a shepherd in Wales). Despite the nature of her degree and work experience, which suggested a future as a farmer, upon graduation in 1979 Ní Thuathail began teaching mathematics and science in Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal.
From February 1984 Ní Thuathail worked as a senior education executive for Bord na Gaeilge (the body set up by the government in 1978 to promote the Irish language) and moved to Dublin, where she lived in Rathfarnham, Terenure and, finally, Dun Laoghaire. During the last two years of her tenure with Bord na Gaeilge she worked with Máire Ní Chonláin and Mairéad Ní Gallchóir on the production management of Púiríní, a children’s programme made under the auspices of CoCo Productions, based in Cork. As a further signal of the direction her interest was taking, in 1988 she was released from Bord na Gaeilge for several months to complete a course in television production. In April 1989 Ní Thuathail left Bord na Gaeilge to found Eo Teilifís, a television production company with the stated aim of bringing Irish-language programming to native speakers, and children in particular (the name was taken from the Old Irish root word meaning ‘salmon of knowledge’ and was a nod to her home county, Maigh Eo). She returned to the west and established a base in An Chuasnóg, Spiddal, Co. Galway, where Eo Teilifís began producing Irish-language children’s programmes such as Mise agus Pangur Bán and Mire mara. Ní Thuathail was at the forefront of ideas on how to bring minority-language programming to native speakers – in 1990 she hosted a workshop in Spiddal attended by representatives from thirty-one other European countries with second or minority languages, under the working title ‘Cúl an Tí’ (‘Back of the House’) which, in Irish, refers to the magical place where children play. Mise agus Pangur Bán typified Ní Thuathail’s approach to Irish-language programming – a ten-minute programme devised and written by primary school teacher Patricia Forde, it offered an educational curriculum within a light-hearted script. The programme also benefited from the services of puppeteer Pat Bracken (1951–2010) and Blake Norton, long-time sound engineer for Sesame Street in the US.
On 31 October 1996 the government launched a new Irish-language television station, Teilifís na Gaeilge (now TG4), to address the dearth of Irish-language programming (only five per cent of the programming then produced by RTÉ was in Irish). When the new station sought tenders to produce Ros na Rún, an Irish-language soap opera, Ní Thuathail’s Eo Teilifís joined forces with Tyrone Productions and were awarded the contract, the largest single commission in Irish television history at the time. A mock town was built in Baile Ard, Spiddal, near the headquarters of Eo Teilifís, and the programme premiered on 3 November 1996. Ní Thuathail served as the show’s executive director from the outset and remained in the role until she fell ill in 2016. With twenty-eight seasons and 2,000 episodes (at time of writing), Ros na Rún is the show most readily associated with Eo Teilifís. Yet the company was also instrumental in bringing other Irish-language programming to both TG4 and RTÉ, including the educational series Turas teanga in 2004 and the drama series Seacht (2007–11). In 2005 their documentary Concerto Chaitlín Maude won an IFTA award for best documentary in the Irish language.
Ní Thuathail understood that training would be a necessary requirement for those looking to work in Irish-language productions. To that end she collaborated with Údarás na Gaeltachta, RTÉ, Foras Áiseanna Saothair (FÁS) and the newly established Teilifís na Gaeilge to establish the Euroform Training Initiative, which provided training for production managers and assistants, camera and sound operators, mixed video and editors. She later cofounded Gréasán na Meán, a centre in An Chuasnóg providing training in written, spoken and video communication skills with a particular emphasis on multimedia. Always looking for ways to widen the audience for the Irish language, in 2010 Eo Teilifís founded the weekly newspaper Gaelscéal in partnership with An Curadh Connachtach. However, it was discontinued three years later due to limited circulation. She was also involved as a consultant in setting up iRadio in 2011, an amalgamation of sister stations i105–107FM and i102–104FM. iRadio was licensed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to challenge the duopoly held by RTÉ 2FM and Today FM in the fifteen- to thirty-four-year-old demographic outside Dublin. To provide a further outlet for new writers and directors, Eo Teilifís also collaborated with ROSG film and television production company to produce Síol scéal, a series which invited six directors and writers to each produce a half-hour short film that was then aired on TG4. In recognition of her talent and ambition, Ní Thuathail was awarded the Young Businesswoman of the Year award in 1997; throughout her career she was invited to sit on numerous boards including the Independent Radio and Television Commission (now the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland), Screen Producers Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.
Ní Thuathail maintained a strong bond with her family despite her busy career, helping with her mother’s long-term care after she suffered a stroke in 1995 and assisting nieces and nephews when she could. In later life her great joy was to travel – she would drive with her dog, Stocaí Bána, to the south of Spain or to Portugal and rent a house for several weeks. At home she kept polytunnels and grew her own vegetables, perhaps as a reminder of her days working on the family farm as a child.
Máire Ní Thuathail was diagnosed with cancer on 1 April 2016 and died on 19 September. She was cremated in Mount Jerome, Dublin, following a private family service, and her ashes were buried in the family plot in Churchfield graveyard on the shore of Lough Mask. A memorial service was held at the Connemara Coast Hotel on 24 September. President Michael D. Higgins described her contribution to Irish-language television and filmmaking as being of ‘inestimable value’ (Statement by President Higgins, 19 Sept. 2016).
More information on this entry is available at the National database of Irish-language biographies (ainm.ie).