Máire Kearney

Máire Kearney is a multi-award-winning Irish documentary director whose films have repeatedly shaped public life. Her landmark three-part series Stardust (2024) - three years in the making - is regarded as the definitive account of the 1981 Stardust nightclub fire and the bereaved families' 43-year fight for justice, concluding with the inquest's historic verdict of unlawful killing. The series won the RTS Ireland Award for Best Factual Series, the Celtic Media Festival Torc for Best Factual Series and a Radharc Award. Her most recent film, President Connolly: How the Race Was Won (2025) - an intimate, behind-the-scenes account of Ireland's 2025 presidential election, following the campaign from the inside - was RTS-nominated for Best Documentary. Her earlier films include Redress: Breaking the Silence (2020), which brought the testimony of industrial school survivors to a national audience; Whistleblower: The Maurice McCabe Story (2018), the definitive account of a scandal that reached the heart of Irish policing and government; and the undercover investigation Home Truths (2005), which exposed systemic failures in elder care and drove legislative change. Her work also includes Maeve Binchy: The Magic of the Ordinary (2022). Across more than two decades directing for RTÉ, BBC and TV3 - including as part of RTÉ's Prime Time investigative team - her honours include two IFTAs and two Justice Media Awards. She is known for building exceptional trust with contributors and for intimate, observational storytelling that turns complex social and institutional themes into cinematic, character-driven narratives.