Manchán Magan made Irish profound and important 

It was impossible to listen to him on a topic and not want to learn more about it, writes Karen McHugh 

After generations of trying to make Irish cool, Manchán did it effortlessly. In fact, he didn’t just make it cool. He made it something else — something profound, inherent, important. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan

Last year, I heard that Manchán Magan was writing a book on Ireland’s links with Iceland. Having moved to Reykjavik myself in 2023, I was intrigued and started to follow him on Instagram.

The more I read about him, the more I admired him. Manchán lived life on his own terms. Disillusioned by his time at a “dull and dreary” UCD, and depressed at not fitting into the world around him, he shunned the rat race early in life and went to Africa, travelling widely until eventually lured back by his brother with the promise of sharing his new-found knowledge in documentaries.