Christy Moore pays tribute to ‘best man and dear friend’ Dónal Lunny
Childhood friends had a transformational impact on Irish folk music and supported various political and social causes
Musician Christy Moore has paid tribute to his “dear friend” Dónal Lunny (79) who died on Friday after a long illness.
Moore and Lunny were childhood friends while growing up in Newbridge, Co Kildare, and began a career-long collaboration that transformed Irish traditional music.
The lifetime achievement award was presented to Lunny by Moore at last year’s RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.
The pair first met at Newbridge College in 1959 when Moore noticed that Lunny had little interest in homework and was more content to tickle trout or climb trees to gaze at wild birds’ nests.
[ Obituary: Lunny leaves indelible mark on Irish traditional musicOpens in new window ]
They formed The Rakes of Kildare, their first band together, as teenagers along with Lunny’s brother Frank. They were later members of Planxty and Moving Hearts, two of the most influential Irish trad bands, and collaborated when Moore embarked upon a solo career.
In a statement to The Irish Times, Moore said: “From 1962 to 2026 Donal was a constant presence in my working life, a dear friend, a sensitive and creative collaborator, a huge influence on later generations, many of whom may not yet realise what he has given.”
The pair recorded seven albums together as part of a band or collaborating on Moore’s solo projects.
Moore and Lunny were politically active throughout their respective careers and shared the same republican politics.
Together they wrote and recorded Ninety Miles to Dublin and then The Time has Come, both songs about the hunger strikes.
Other songs with a political tint that they recorded together were On the Bridge, about the women in Armagh Prison, and The Wicklow Boy, a song for Nicky Kelly who was wrongfully convicted over the 1976 Sallins train robbery.
They were also involved in the Carnsore movement in the late 1970s when the government was considering locating a nuclear power plant at Carnsore Point in Co Wexford.
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Moore stated: “We stood together on many campaigns, H Blocks, hunger strikes, Carnsore, Stardust, Section 31, prisoner rights and Traveller rights.
“He was an artist, musician, activist, friend and best man.”
Many tributes have been paid to Lunny with President Catherine Connolly describing him as “one of Ireland’s greatest musical figures, a wonderfully talented musician and producer who was central to so many of the most influential moments of the last 60 years of Irish music”.
Lunny is survived by his three children Oisín, Cora Venus and Sora. He also had a son with the late singer Sinéad O’Connor. Shane O’Connor died in 2022.
He is survived by his current partner of many years, Úna O’Boyle.
