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Oonagh Swift (1929 – 2012)

With the exception of the Irish Times & a small paragraph in the Sunday Independent newspapers, other media services failed miserably to report or even notice her passing. Looking to our future, one is sadly reminded of the lines of that great anti-war ballad written by Eric Bogle, “And the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call, but year after year, their numbers get fewer, someday, no one will march there at all.”  I am of course referring to the death of Oonagh Swift, whose spirit moved on recently at her home in the Algarve, at the fine old age of 83 years.

Oonagh Swift, who was born May 13th, 1929 and who died on October 25th, 2012, was a cultured, charismatic Irish figure whose life was steeped in the arts and in literature and who embraced so many other nationalities. One feels that her life perhaps should have received at least some larger recognition here in Ireland and particularly in South Tipperary.

Born in Dublin, Oonagh was the third youngest of eight children born to Séamus Ryan and Agnes Ryan, (née Harding,) from Tipperary.  She was christened initially Agnes Mary, but from an early age her family chose to adopt the name Oonagh, latter the Gaelic variation of Agnes.

Her parents were both Irish Republican activists during the War of Independence. Her father, a successful businessman, active supporter of the old IRA, & also a Fianna Fáil Senator, during the leadership of Éamon de Valera, helping to found the Party.

Oonagh’s father, Séamus Ryan was born in 1895 in Kilfeacle, Co Tipperary and while early in his life he had been a supporter of the moderate Irish nationalist John Redmond, strong emotions and deep family convictions soon made him increasingly sympathetic and eventually committed to the Irish Republican cause.

Séamus would eventually marry Agnes Harding a native of Solohead, Co Tipperary in 1918. In that same year they both would open a shop in Parnell Street, in Dublin. This business would be the first of 33 outlets for this company, which they now named “The Monument Creameries,” named after the famous monument erected to the Irish nationalist, Charles Stewart Parnell and which was located close to their shop premises. Séamus Ryan and his wife Agnes reared eight children, many of whom made significant contributions to the Arts, stage & screen and to Irish public life.

Oonagh’s sister Kathleen Ryan (1922–1985) was an international motion picture actress. Regarded as one of Ireland’s most beautiful women, she was the model for one of Louis le Brocquy’s striking portraits, “Girl in White,” which he painted in 1941 and later entered in the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA,) exhibition of that year. The portrait, an oil on canvas, can be seen today in the Ulster Museum collection. She later died in Dublin from lung disease, aged just 63 and is buried with her parents, in the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, in Dublin.

Kathleen starred with such screen stars as Dirk Bogarde in ‘The Sins of Esther Waters,’ and with James Mason, Cyril Cusack, Robert Beatty, and Dan O’Herlihy in “The Odd Man Out.” She also starred in other well known films such as ‘Captain Boycott,’ (1947), ‘Christopher Columbus,’ (1949), ‘Give Us This Day,’ (1949), and ‘Captain Lightfoot,’ (1955).

Continue reading Death Of Oonagh Swift (Nee Ryan)