Colin O’Daly obituary: Chef who went from Michelin star to the dole before success at Roly’s and as an artist

Colin O’Daly proved himself a maestro in the kitchen and then on canvas

Liam Collins

Colin O’Daly, who has died in Bantry, Co Cork, at the age of 70, was a Michelin-starred chef who abandoned the restaurant business after what he described as a “roller coaster career” to become an accomplished abstract artist.

“I didn’t go into it for love or passion,” he told me in 2021 about his prolific career as a top-flight chef. “I was ill for most of my childhood and had no education, so at 16 I went into catering because I needed a job.”