The late Breandán Mac Lua, RIP De Facto Liamy MacNally 
On Thursday the body of one of Ireland’s gentlemen will be laid to rest. Breandán Mac Lua, the genial Clareman, was the founder of The Irish Post newspaper in Britain. He passed away after a short illness and will be buried in Oakley Green Cemetery after Mass in St Edward’s Church in his adopted Windsor.
He was a role model for Irish people in Britain when the country’s establishment often portrayed our nation in a less than favourable light. He always took a stand for truth and for right. He did not stoop to respect anyone’s ego. This did not make him insensitive. He was far from that but he was a stickler for truth and all it imbued.
During a particularly difficult time for the Irish following an IRA campaign in London, there was a huge media outcry against immigrants. Tory Minister Michael Portillo used the occasion to mouth off, with the backlash being felt by many of us from Ireland. At a dinner, Breandán Mac Lua was asked to say a few words. He started: “I note Señor Miguel Portillo has been speaking…” He pronounced Portillo as they would in Spain, with an ‘e’ sound for the ‘i’ and the silent double ‘l’. He did not have to say anymore. In less than one sentence he placed the Tory Minister where he belonged, in the Spanish community living in England. Mr Portillo’s father was an immigrant.
Breandán Mac Lua was smart, different, sometimes difficult, but always loyal. He, and his late wife, Maeve, were great company. He was so knowledgeable about Irish affairs. Attention to detail was like second nature to him. He enjoyed conversation, was a great listener and loved to learn something new. He delighted in people who were passionate about subjects and wasted no time in ‘interrogating’ them.
Our paths kept crossing in London before we managed to make a specific time and place to meet and talk. He was still writing his Frank Dolan column and was Chairman of The Irish Post, with Donal Mooney as editor. I was Chair of the Federation of Irish Societies in Britain, an organisation Breandán had helped to establish in 1973.
We met in The Tara for dinner. We departed at 6am the following morning. During conversation it emerged my aunt Máire nursed him as a child. He spoke of her with affection and often asked me to remember him to her in subsequent years. He remembered my uncle, Liam Hastings and his Mayo football outings. Breandán Mac Lua loved football and I could detect his disappointment when I informed him that I had two left feet! We talked politics, religion, music, the Irish language and he talked sport!
In those ten hours it was like coming face to face with your Anam Chara – soul friend. He had a look that could sink into the very depths of your being. This was the man who, on so many levels, carried the Irish community in Britain on his back for many years. He was an ardent campaigner for the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four (alongside Mayo native, Fr Joe Taffe.) He defended so many in good times and bad.
Breandán was born in Lisdoonvarna and worked for Gael Linn and made weekly Irish programmes before he joined the Press Group. He became a full-time officer with the GAA and wrote a book in 1967, ‘The Steadfast Rule: A History of the GAA Ban’. In 2003 he wrote the foreword to the Clare County Council facsimile edition of Michael Cusack’s 1887 Gaelic Games newspaper, The Celtic Times. Breandán told the lovely story of how he was given the original print run of The Celtic Times.
In 1970, with Waterford’s Tony Beatty, he founded The Irish Post. In his autobiography, ‘From Post to Post’, Tony Beatty states: “We decided to fly in the face of superstition by launching The Irish Post on Friday, February 13, 1970. We felt we were big enough to overcome any bad ju-ju and, in retrospect, it proved to be a lucky day for us.”
I wrote to Breandán for Christmas, unaware of his illness, enclosing old booklets on Windsor and radio programmes on Mayo’s hunger strikers. He was always a great man to drop a line. This humble Irishman is now at rest.
His three daughters, Sinéad, Niamh and Orla, have lost a wonderful father. Their children have lost a gracious grandfather. Many of us have lost a faithful friend. Other people have lost a proud patron. The country has lost a loyal statesman. Beannachtaí.
“I look into the eyes of my merciful friend
And then I ask myself, is this the end?
Memories linger, sad yet sweet
And I think of the souls in heaven who will meet.”
