Ó Muimhneacháin, Aindrias (1905–89), Irish language enthusiast and and broadcaster, was born 5 September 1905 in Gaortha na Péice, Ballingeary, Co. Cork, the second of five sons in a family of two sons and two daughters of Séamas Ó Muimhneacháin, farmer, and his wife Hannah (née Hyde). One of his sisters was the noted singer Cáit Ní Mhuimhneacháin (1918–1949). After primary and secondary education, and teacher training, he worked as an organising teacher of Irish in Kerry (1925–9); and then as organiser and supervisor of Irish classes and studies in Kilkenny (1929). He taught in Coláiste Chaoimhín preparatory training college in Glasnevin, Dublin (1929–39), was director of post-graduate teacher training in the Department of Education (1939–45), and from 1945 was senior teacher and director of apprenticeship training at St Mary's College of Catering, Cathal Brugha St., Dublin, retiring in 1971. He served on the government's television commission (1958–9), and was appointed, in 1966 and 1969, to government advisory councils on Irish language policy and its development.
Ó Muimhneacháin was an ardent member of Conradh na Gaeilge. He served for many years on its governing body (Coiste Gnó) (1930–70), and chaired the committee (1937–9) that led to the revival of the Oireachtas in 1939. A practical man as well as an idealist, he suggested that Conradh should first institute a féile drámaíochta na gcraobh (drama festival of the branches), which he believed would lead to an interest in a national Oireachtas competition. He chaired the Oireachtas (1945–62), served as its president in 1963, and thereafter as its patron.
Ó Muimhneacháin recognised the opportunity that broadcasting offered to the promotion of the Irish language, and headed the Conradh na Gaeilge committee that published An Gaedheal agus an radio (1935). His pioneering programme ‘Listen and learn’ was broadcast on Radio Éireann in two series, 1945–8 and 1951–4. He also produced a series of radio programmes for school children (1937–41) and wrote Craolacháin i gcóir scoileanna na hÉireann, an accompanying text for the programme. Radio also provided an outlet for Ó Muimhneacháin's musical talents. Like his sister, he was a fine singer, having been trained by the voice teacher Vincent O'Brien (qv), who had taught both John McCormack (qv) and James Joyce (qv).
He published two pamphlets about Conradh na Gaeilge: An Claidheamh Soluis (1955) and Na múinteoirí taistil [the travelling teachers] (1966). His account of a decade of Conradh's history appeared in 1974 as Dóchas agus duainéis: scéal Chonradh na Gaeilge, 1922–1932. In 1978 he edited Seanchas an tailliúra, a collection of the stories of his old Gougane Barra neighbour and friend, Tim Buckley (qv), whose stories had originally been published in 1942 by Eric Cross (qv) in The tailor and ansty (1942) and were the subject of a censorship debate in Seanad Éireann in 1943. Ó Muimhneacháin's English translation, Stories from the tailor, appeared posthumously in 1990.
He had a lifelong interest in Irish folklore, especially the folklore of the Gaeltacht. He joined Cumann Béaloideas Éireann (the Irish Folklore Society), in 1927, served on its executive committee from 1947, and from 1965 as its president. When he stood down as president in 1987, he was named a patron of the society, an honour he shared with Douglas Hyde (qv), Séamus Ó Duilearga (qv), Seán Ó Súilleabháin (qv), and Caoimhín Ó Danachair (qv). He died 14 November 1989.
Ó Muimhneacháin married in 1937 Mairéad Ní Nualláin (d. 1990); they lived at Belmont Gardens, Donnybrook, Dublin and had no children. A portrait by Maurice MacGonigal (qv) is in the Irish Folklore archives at UCD (it is reproduced in Béaloideas, lvii (1989)).
More information on this entry is available at the National Database of Irish-language biographies (Ainm.ie).