Tributes paid to ‘outstanding educator, singer, and entertainer’ Seán Ó Sé

The Taoiseach has led tributes to the renowned Cork singer, educator and raconteur Seán Ó Sé, who has passed away three days shy of his 90th birthday.

Mr Ó Sé was known affectionately as “de Pucker”, a play on the song ‘An Poc Ar Buile’, which he made famous in a surprise 1962 hit single.

He finished his teaching career as principal of St Mary’s on the Hill in Knocknaheeny in Cork city, and the Taoiseach paid tribute to a kind and caring teacher “who always put his students first”.

The late Seán Ó Sé was presented with the Gradam Ceoil Lifetime Achievement Award last weekend in 2021. 

For generations of Corkonians, Mr Martin said, he would be associated with GAA homecomings “because he would inevitably bring the proceedings to a great conclusion with a rousing rendition of The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee”.

Seán Ó Sé was born in 1936 on Cork’s South Terrace, spending his formative years in Ballylickey, which he described as “three miles outside Bantry to the west, on the Glengarriff road, the most easterly inlet in Bantry Bay”.

Seán, aged around six, at his father’s former home in Adrigole, west Cork, with his favourite toy – with a bit of imagination, it could be anything. taken from An Poc Ar Buile – The Life & Times of Seán Ó Sé by Seán Ó Sé with Patricia Ahern, published by The Collins Press, 2015

Educated at Coláiste Íosagáin, Ballyvourney, and St Patrick’s College, Dublin, he worked as a primary school teacher in counties Wicklow and Cork, finishing his career as principal of St Mary’s on the Hill in Knocknaheeny in Cork.

A gifted tenor, he first came to prominence as a singer in the 1960s with Seán Ó Riada’s group Ceoltóirí Chualann, touring internationally with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

He became synonymous with his definitive interpretation of Dónall Ó Mulláin’s An Poc ar Buile, a song outlining the exploits of a mad puck goat.

Growing up in an all-Irish-speaking home, he didn’t utter his first word of English until he went to school, at the age of six.

Seán Ó Sé performing in Cork City Libraries in association with Creative Ireland ,campaign to find Cork’s Favourite Song in 2020. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

“My mother was a native Irish speaker from Ballingeary and my father’s people Gaelic leaguers from Adrigole with ‘learned-Irish’,” he told The Echo last year.

“I live in an English-speaking part of the country now. However, if I go to any Gaeltacht area, the Irish comes back immediately. And I love that.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was deeply saddened at his friend’s passing.

“Seán was an outstanding educator, singer and entertainer, he had a beautiful relationship with Seán Ó Riada and in many ways he was the definitive interpreter of Ó Riada’s music,” Mr Martin said.

“An Poc Ar Buile is Seán Ó Sé’s, he made it famous, and his education achievements, particularly on the northside of Cork, showed what a great kind and caring principal he was, he always put his students first.”

An Poc ar Buile by composer Dónall Ó Mulláin, and tenor Seán Ó Sé.

Cork Folk Festival chairman Jim Walsh said Mr Ó Sé had performed several times in the festival, and at the Cork Singers’ Club.

“He was always welcome, and his performances were always a joy, and he was always a great man to deal with,” he said.

Tony Fitzgerald, former lord mayor of Cork, and northside Fianna Fáil councillor, said Mr Ó Sé was a Cork legend and the voice of the rebel city in story and song.

“He played a vital part in the development of St Mary’s on the Hill in Knocknaheeny, and he described his time as principal there as the happiest years of his career,” he said.

Steeped in history, local, national and international, Seán Ó Sé loved the land and the sport and the people of his native Ireland, and he loved Cork above all other places.

Predeceased last year by his wife Eileen, Mr Ó Sé is survived by their children Áine, Con, and Íde.