President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to pioneering documentary-maker George Morrison who has died aged 102.
Mr Morrison is best remembered for Mise Éire in 1959, a documentary produced by Gael Linn and whose celebrated score was written by composer Seán Ó Riada, and its follow-up, Saoirse.
In a statement, President Higgins said the documentary-maker "will remain an iconic and foundational figure in Irish filmography".
"A filmmaker of immense craft and skill, he will rightly be remembered in particular as a great innovator in the techniques of film, using new and pioneering camera work while realising how film and music could be brought together in a way that is distinctive," he said.
Statement by President Michael D. Higgins on the death of George Morrison https://t.co/h9ZpZWhlHc pic.twitter.com/Yl6mcSh97A
— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) August 5, 2025
Mr Morrison was born in Tramore, Co Waterford in 1922.
His mother was an actress at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and his father was an anaesthetist.
Taking his cues from both sides of the family, he initially enrolled in Trinity College to study medicine.
He soon left his studies behind, however, to pursue a career in the creative arts.
His initial foray into film-making was an ultimately uncompleted production of Dracula.
Mr Morrison was to cross paths with Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards, two of the major Arts figures in Dublin during the first half of the 20th century and the founders of the Gate Theatre.
He began working on documentaries in conjunction with the Gate Theatre film ventures as an assistant director and editor.
The release of Mise Éire coincided with a renewal of interest in Irish culture and identity and its first showing was at the Cork Film Festival.
Using actual newsreels and newspapers from the period between the late 19th century and 1918, George Morrison presents a history of one of Ireland’s most turbulent periods, culminating in the 1916 Rising and Sinn Féin’s electoral victory in 1918.
Watch: George Morrison on the need for a film archive in Ireland (1988)
It is openly nationalistic in tone and pays homage to Patrick Pearse’s poem of the same name which was written in 1912.
It was the first full length feature film ever produced in the Irish language.
Mise Éire’s follow-up, Saoirse, examined the divisive Civil War period.
A third historic documentary called Rebellion followed in 1963, and his later works included a maritime film Two Thousand Miles of Peril (1972) and a documentary on James Joyce’s Ulysses, Dublin Day (2007).
Mr Morrison was a member of Aosdána and in 2009 received the Industry Lifetime Contribution Award at the Irish Film and Television Awards.
He was predeceased by his wife Janet Morrison in 2019, and his first wife Theodora Fitzgibbon in 1991.
Last year, Sinn Féin TD in Waterford Conor D McGuinness organised an event to honour Mr Morrison.
On learning of his death today, Deputy McGuinness said: "George Morrison was a celebrated, groundbreaking figure. He was a proud Waterford man, who was born and raised in Tramore.
"It’s for Mise Éire and Saoirse he will mostly be remembered, but he produced many great works during his lifetime.
"I was happy to nominate him last year for a civil honour from Waterford County and City Council.
"Go dtuga Dia sólas dá mhuintir agus go raibh leaba i measc na naomh aige."
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