Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Pays Tribute to Irish producer Martha O'Neill
Posted: 23rd April 2025
The Board and Executive at Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland would like to pay tribute to independent Irish film and television producer, Martha O’Neill, who sadly passed away this weekend.
Martha led a remarkable career over three decades, producing documentary, TV drama and feature film, and supporting the growth of the Irish screen industry through various avenues. She served as a Board member of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (then known as the Irish Film Board/Bord Scannán na hÉireann) from 2001 to 2005.
Martha began her career in production, working in roles from assistant directing to location management and production management, before becoming a full-time producer. She was a member of the Board of the Irish Film Institute (IFI) and was its Chair from 1997 to 2002. She was also a director of Cinemobile 2000, Ireland’s mobile cinema which brought the big screen experience to small towns without a permanent cinema, an initiative that supported community audiences throughout the island of Ireland for sixteen years. Martha was also a founding director of the Moonstone International Filmmakers’ Lab, which supported filmmakers like Lynne Ramsay, David Gleeson and Terry Loane.
Her early credits include films like The Last of the High Kings (1996) and Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000). In recent years, through her production company Wildfire Films, Martha produced countless hours of TV documentary and drama, on topics as diverse as underwater dance and Shakespearean productions – and her work particularly depicted a range of Irish life and culture, across sport, education and the day to day lives of ordinary people.
Martha’s production of Grace Harte (2017) for TG4 and the BAI won the Circom Award for Best European Drama in 2018. Her most recent feature film was the critically acclaimed documentary Stolen (2024), directed by Margo Harkin and proudly supported by Screen Ireland.
Martha’s contribution to the Irish screen industry over the years has been remarkable, and her passing is a huge loss to the film and television sector, as well as to independent filmmakers across the country, and her colleagues, past and present. Our thoughts are with her wife Garry, and her family and loved ones at this time.