When Gabriel Byrne is not burning up the airwaves as troubled but brilliant therapist Paul Weston, you will find him wearing his Cultural Ambassador for Ireland hat in a variety of intriguing places, both here in the US and at home in Ireland.

global irish network

Irish Central, November 10: Ambassador Gabriel Byrne calls on new Irish leader to fill vacuum. While at the Mater Hospital in Dublin for the Thank You Day festivities, he observed:

In this situation you could see a new leader emerge from the right wing or left sphere . . . there is a vacuum to be filled by a leader,” the actor said. “I have a feeling somebody is going to emerge who will lead.”

The “In Treatment” star said there was a deep sense of anger and betrayal among people.

“The two pillars of the church and politics who people look to for leadership are collapsing,” he added.

A few days later, there were tweets on Twitter about #dreamtaoiseach (more info on the Taoiseach of Ireland) and Mr. Byrne was on that list!

The Irish Times, November 12: Skilled Irish diaspora focuses on recovery November 12 [this article is now behind a paywall]

After opening speeches by the Irish Ambassadors to the US and Canada, Ms Hanafin and Alan Ahearne, the special adviser to the Minister for Finance, the meeting split into sessions whose themes were: driving economic growth, harnessing cultural energy and restoring Ireland’s reputation.

Good ideas raised in yesterday’s meeting “will find their way into the four-year plan” to be unveiled within two weeks, Mr Ahearne said.

At the meeting on November 12 of the Global Irish Network in the Irish Consulate
on Park Avenue, New York, were writer Colum McCann,
Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin, and actor Gabriel Byrne.
Photograph: James Higgins

artists on the edge

The Irish Times: Safety net for artists: Seán Lawlor Artists Trust [this article is now behind a paywall]

Gabriel Byrne, who was this year appointed Ireland’s first cultural ambassador, supports the trust and appeals to the public to consider artists in need. “Seán Lawlor was a friend of mine, and sadly he passed far too soon,” he says.

“I think the trust is a wonderful idea. It raises awareness of the precarious life of the artist. At any one time, 98 per cent of actors, for example, are unemployed, and are most vulnerable during illness and disability. Most artists exist on paltry recompense, and yet the contribution they make to our cultural life is inestimable.”

For Byrne, this is an opportunity for all the different stories from the varying strands of need to come together. “As well as providing a gathering place for the exchange of ideas, the trust will serve as an inspiration to action to improve the material well-being of those we so often take for granted,” he says.

dying in dublin: a response

The Irish Times November 12: The Hospice Programme [this article is now behind a paywall]

OUR HUMANITY is reflected in how we care for the dying. And encouragingly, at a time of often tottering health and social services, there have been some positive developments in how we treat people in their final days and succour their families in the aftermath of bereavement. Acute and community hospitals have embraced the second phase of the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme, an Irish Hospice Foundation venture which is driving change in how we deal with dying and death…

Minister for Health Mary Harney, the HSE, the Hospice Foundation and actor Gabriel Byrne who supports the Challenge Fund scheme, deserve credit for co-operating on an issue so integral to the way we die and of such shared importance to us all.

Yes, you have seen this picture before,
but it bears repeating, doesn’t it?

5 Comments

  1. Cythandra

    He’s truly one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever read about.

    • Yes, Gabriel is absolutely beautiful inside and out. I am very interested in his work with a Hospice program for Ireland. We have a Hospice facility/program in my geographic area that I believe to be second to none. It brings so much dignity to the dying process and what they do for the family is absolutely phenomenal – and it continues on after the death of the loved one. It is most comforting to know that it is here for me and my loved ones should it be needed again.

      Kris (USA)

  2. I just can’t stop saying I love him

  3. Hi

    Does Gaberiel Byrne have a website re his position as Arts Ambassador to Ireland?. I can’t find anything on it

    Thanks
    Imeldad

    • Thanks for asking this question, Imelda.

      As far as I know, there is no official website for the Cultural Ambassador for Ireland.

      We are covering Gabriel’s ambassadorial activities here at Byrneholics. And we may set up a separate mini-site for this as he ramps up these activities.

      You can always find out what he is doing or planning to do here, so stay tuned!

      :-)

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