Nature, the Irish language, and traditional music have all been lifelong passions of filmmaker Éamon de Buitléar who is leaving his archive to Galway University.
Film-maker and environmentalist Éamon de Buitléar officially presents his archive to the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG). The multi-media archive is a vast body of work spanning 60 years, reflecting Éamon de Buitléar’s broad range of personal and professional interests which cover the environment, the Irish language and traditional Irish music.
The collection overall includes my work, my life’s work if you wish. It goes from over 2000 quarter inch tapes of sounds of the countryside, it includes film, it includes the very first scripts that I wrote for the series 'Amuigh Faoin Spéir'.
Dr Seathrún Ó Tuairisg of NUIG says,
It’s absolutely wonderful for NUIG to be given this archive. It is a great example of what we call the spirit of enquiry, a treat which we like to instil in our students and which Éamon De Buitléar has in abundance.
Éamon De Buitléar explains why NUIG is the perfect fit for his archive.
They were willing to take everything and they had a real sympathy for what I was actually doing and they were going to keep it together and coming from the Irish department of course, that suited me fine.
At a ceremony in the University, President of NUIG Dr James Brown paid tribute to Mr de Buitléar for his generous donation and presented him with a print of 'The Quadrangle, NUI Galway' in recognition of his donation to the college.
NUIG plans to digitise and catalogue the Éamon De Buitléar archive and make it available to scholars, researchers, students and the Gaeltacht community.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 November 2012. The reporter is Teresa Mannion.
