GEARAILT MAC EOIN:GEARAILT MAC EOIN, who has died aged 80, made his name as a poet, translator and short story writer having retired after many years in the insurance business.
He published three collections of poetry, launching his first volume when he was 60. Labhraí Loingseach (1988) was followed by Sneachta Cásca (1991) and Néalta Taistil (1994).
His short story collection Brocairí Bhedlington (1996) was nominated for an Irish Times literary award while Exile, his translation into English of Paraic Ó Conaire's novella Deoraíocht, was shortlisted for the Council of Europe prize Aristeoin.
A Conradh na Gaeilge trophy winner at the Dún Laoghaire poetry festival in 1992, he was in 2001 awarded an Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon literature bursary for Sliogán an Mhuirín agus scéalta eile.
Born in 1928 in Palmerstown, Co Dublin, he was the son of Gerald Alphonsus and Margaret Johnston. The family moved to Monkstown, Co Dublin, and he was educated by the Christian Brothers in Dún Laoghaire.
Speaking at the funeral Mass, his friend Miceal Ross said: "From his Protestant father, Gearailt learned that practical patriotism was buying Donegal tweeds and Wexford spades. The extraordinary Brother Byrne kindled his love of French. He became a keen stylist in English, Irish and Latin, valuing simplicity and sensitivity to nuance in all he wrote."
He and his siblings learned Irish from Helen Sweeney, a domestic servant from the Mayo Gaeltacht, and he became a stalwart of Conradh na Gaeilge in Blackrock. He was later a founder member of Craobh na hÉigse.
Following his father's death when he was 17, he joined the insurance brokers Coyle Hamilton. He rose to become a director, but a car accident in the 1980s forced him to take early retirement.
A dedicated gardener, with a Dutch associate he established a business growing vegetables, fruit and flowers under glass in Dromiskin, Co Louth. Within a few years of starting up, however, the chrysanthemum crop failed causing heavy losses which sank the business.
He then moved to Ballyogan, Co Dublin. The area lacked public transport and without a car he found himself isolated from old friends. He also found it difficult to obtain his newspaper of choice. Undaunted, he took up writing seriously. He contributed occasionally to The Irish Times, writing on a variety of topics.
In January 1994 he argued that full civil, cultural and linguistic rights should form part of any settlement in Northern Ireland. In October 1998 he expressed the hope that the Ulster Scots language would live and develop. It would only do so, he wrote, if unlike Irish, its development could be left to creative writers, "and escape the attentions of academic and bureaucratic kenbetthers".
In April 1996, in an article headed "Gaeilge briste nó 'pidgin' cliste?", he argued that the native equivalent of franglais was taking the place of idiomatic Irish.
In a subsequent exchange of correspondence he described the gaelscoil movement as "one of the healthiest and most beneficial community-based activities in Ireland today, as well as being the most joyful".
Sa mbliain 1995 buaigh sé comórtas na Nollag de chuid an cholúin Tuarascáil san Irish Times lena aistriúcháin ó Ghaeilge na státseirbhíse go Gaeilge níos nádúrtha.
He successfully lobbied the Sunday Tribune to accept Irish-language contributions to the New Irish Writing page. He also persuaded Count Hennessey to have writing in Irish considered for the literary awards his firm sponsored.
With Gabriel Rosenstock in 1991 he edited and translated a selection of Yeats's poems under the title Byzantium. And in 1994 he edited Rosenstock's translation of J.W. Hackett's Zen Haiku.
A beekeeper and lover of nature, he also enjoyed sean nós singing and the music of the uilleann pipes.
Predeceased by his son Máirtín, he is survived by his wife Móna (Ní Dhireáin), daughters Niamh and Máire and son Rónán.
Gearailt Mac Eoin: born March 24th, 1928; died September 25th, 2008