Death of Former Member, Brian Friel: Expressions of Sympathy
27 January 2016
Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Senator Ivana Bacik: It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the Labour Party, to offer tribute to the late former Senator, Brian Friel. I welcome those in the Gallery, particularly Brian Friel's family, friends and colleagues to whom I offer sincere sympathies. Others who knew Brian Friel have spoken eloquently but I will add a few words of my own. While he was a Senator here between 1987 and 1989, which is the basis upon which we are paying tribute, he was much better known as a playwright and was described at the time of his death as the best-known Irish playwright of his generation. Others have spoken of his many achievements. He was incredibly prolific. I have read through a list of his huge amount of work - 24 published plays, two short story collections, three unpublished and eight published adaptations or versions, most notably of the works of Ibsen, Chekhov and Turgenev. His best-known plays are "Dancing at Lughnasa", "Faith Healer", "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" and, of course, "Translations", which, like Senator O'Keeffe, is my personal favourite. It is a most beautiful evocation of the complexity of language, communication difficulties and mis-communications. It has much resonance and there is a political undertone which has been discussed at length but to me it is a beautiful discussion of language. Brian Friel has been honoured in so many ways, not only in Ireland, Britain and the US, but also internationally. Senator Mac Conghail spoke eloquently about the international impact that his work has had and the staging of many of his plays in many other countries, as well as the English-speaking countries in which he was honoured. He was honoured, by means of a Brian Friel season on BBC radio in the 1980s, in the Abbey Theatre in 2009 to celebrate his 80th birthday and through the bestowing of so many honorary doctorates by Trinity College, the National University of Ireland, NUI, and others.
One of the things I did not know about him until I read his obituary was that he had also been a writer for the Irish Press and The New Yorker. Of the handsome reward he was given by The New Yorker he said, "They paid such enormous money I found I could live off three stories a year" which I thought was a lovely phrase. As Senator Mac Conghail said of Brian Friel's enormous achievements, it seems impossible that one man could have achieved so much in his lifetime. Clearly that is why he is the best known Irish playwright of his generation. That is why he was honoured so extensively on his death and regarded, as many wrote, as one of the greatest contemporary dramatists writing in the English language. He was rather nicely described by Meryl Streep, who acted in the film adaptation of "Dancing at Lughnasa", as a tender dramatist and lovely man. I wish to add my voice to those paying tribute to this extraordinary man.