Writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan dies aged 55

Manchán Magan in Listen To The Land Speak. Picture: ©INPHO/James Crombie

The writer, broadcaster and documentary maker Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55, his family has confirmed.

Mr Magan, a passionate advocate for the Irish language, was widely known for his work exploring culture, heritage, and the natural world through books, television, and radio.

Born in 1970 and raised in Donnybrook, Dublin, Mr Magan first came to prominence with acclaimed travel documentaries, many produced with his brother, the filmmaker Ruán Magan. 

These programmes, broadcast on RTÉ and TG4, brought viewers to remote parts of the world and introduced them to diverse cultures and traditions.

Among his best-known works was No Béarla, a television series in which he travelled around Ireland communicating only through Irish. 

He also presented Crainn na hÉireann, a ten-part exploration of Ireland’s trees, and most recently Listen to the Land Speak, which aired on RTÉ One this summer.

Mr Magan's passion for the Irish language led him to publish books such as Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish and Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), as well as dozens of documentaries and even a cameo in Kneecap’s Drug Dealing Pagans.

Tributes to Mr Magan were led by the Taoiseach.

Writing on social media, Micheál Martin he was "deeply saddened".

"Manchán was a passionate advocate for our language and culture, whose work illuminated the richness of Ireland’s landscape, history and heritage.

"Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam."

Gaeltacht Minister Dara Calleary said that Mr Magan was a "gifted" man.

He said: “I am very saddened to hear of Manchán’s death this morning at such a young age. Manchán was a gifted broadcaster, writer, and passionate advocate of the Irish language.

Manchán leaves behind an extraordinary legacy in how he championed the Irish language. His dedicated work on television, his unmistakable voice on radio, and his writing didn’t just promote Irish, it reignited a grá for it in people. This legacy will live on.

“I want to join with others in offering my deepest condolences to his wife Aisling, his family, his friends and his former colleagues in TG4, RTÉ and the wider arts and culture community across Ireland."

In September, Mr Magan suffered a setback in his journey with prostate cancer.

He was diagnosed with the disease in 2023.

Earlier that month, he joined Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 to speak about his experience living with cancer.

Speaking on the show, he said: “It’s a lovely thing to know that I can plan my last few — is it months or years?

"We don’t know. We might get a year or two, and definitely get another few months.” 

Mr Magan went on to talk about his connection to the spirit world, recalling how his parents recognised he was “a dreamer” and gave him a corner in the garden where he would “dig away” with herbs and flowers, and where he would hear the spirit world.

“I would just be hearing the spirit world, I would just be communicating with them. It was just these loving voices. The voice of feeling, that I have been put into this shell of a body for a certain amount of time, and I am like, this white light. This loving source of white light and I’m here to play,” he said.

He died in Dublin last night and is survived by his wife Aisling, his mother Cróine, and his three siblings.