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Dónal Lunny remembered through hill walks and music at funeral

RTÉ News' funeral report features Cora Venus Lunny's tribute to a father she says was even better at home than on television.

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RTÉ News Story of November 1, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Dónal Lunny’s family ‘lucky to be loved by beautiful man’ | #RTENews #ireland

Walks in the hills, her father's imitation of a curlew's call and the joy he brought through music: these are among Cora Venus Lunny's memories of Dónal Lunny in RTÉ News' funeral report.

"We were all very lucky to be loved by this beautiful man," she says from the pulpit at St Conleth's Parish Church in Newbridge, Co Kildare. The clip opens with mourners walking behind the hearse before moving inside for her tribute.

Lunny died last week aged 79, RTÉ reports. A musician and producer who played guitar and bouzouki, he helped found Planxty, The Bothy Band and Moving Hearts, groups central to the revival and development of Irish traditional music.

Music featured heavily during the funeral Mass, according to RTÉ, with both Cora and her brother Oisín paying tribute. In the excerpt, Cora also thanks her father for bringing music to children in Palestine. She closes by drawing a distinction between the musician people recognised from television and the father his family knew: at home, she says, he was even better.

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