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Michael Viney MRIA (6 February 1933 – 30 May 2023) was a British-born Irish artist, author, broadcaster and journalist. Best known for his writings on nature, he contributed to The Irish Times from 1962.
Michael Viney was born in Brighton, England on 6 February 1933, to parents who operated a cafe.[1] Although interested in art as a career, he began work with the Brighton and Hove Herald at the age of 16, before stints at the Evening Argus, The Star, and Today.[1] In 1962, he took a career break and moved to Tully Cross in Connemara, and eventually decided to stay in Ireland, performing freelance assignments for The Irish Times, later becoming a staff journalist.[1]
The Irish Times and RTÉ
In the 1960s Viney wrote for The Irish Times about social issues such as the fate of people in institutional care.[2] His articles were later incorporated into the Ryan Report on institutional abuse of children in Ireland.[3]
Viney began working at RTÉ Television as presenter in programmes aimed at social, consumer affairs and with items on household and family matters. He took training there as a TV director and became a production editor in 1976.
Move to Mayo
Viney left Dublin in 1977 with his wife, Ethna, and daughter for a simpler life in County Mayo, at their holiday home on one acre at Thallabawn, Murrisk, near the coast south of Louisburgh.[3][4]
Nature writing
Viney published "Another Life", a weekly column in The Irish Times, from 1977.[3][4] Over the years the focus of the column shifted from sustainability to natural history. His last column was published in February 2023.[1]
Viney married Ethna McManus in 1965, and they had a daughter.[1] He was an atheist.[1]
Viney died on 30 May 2023, at the age of 90.[1]
In 1966, Viney won a Jacob's Award for his RTÉ Television documentary, Too Many Children.[5]
Viney was a member of Aosdána, Ireland's academy or affiliation of distinguished creative artists.[6] He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in May 2017.[7]
Viney's books include:
- Ireland: A Smithsonian Natural History. 2003[8]
- Ireland's Ocean (co-written with Ethna Viney)
- 'A Year's Turning' 1996, The Blackstaff Press' 3 Galway Park,Dundonald, Belfast BT16 OAN.
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