President to launch epic 'Fianna Éireann' by Peadar Ó Riada and Pádraig Ó Fiannachta

The late Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta was not a man to shy away from a challenge. 

The Co Kerry priest was a poet, publisher, Maynooth professor, editor, and vocal campaigner on community issues. He had completed the mammoth task of translating the Bible into Irish, much of it from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

However, during the last of his 89 years, his health failing after a stroke, even Mons Ó Fiannachta balked at the enormity of the task presented to him by composer Peadar Ó Riada: To assemble all of Ireland’s mythical past into one narrative, in Irish verse.