A seminar on the life and works of the late writer and philosopher Desmond Fennell will take place in Dublin on June 14th.
Organisers say that the half-day event in the Sandymount Hotel is being held to honour the legacy of one of Ireland’s most original thinkers, and to help bring his work to a wider audience.
The seminar will feature talks on Fennell’s extensive written output, his vision of Ireland’s place in the world and Fennell’s continuing relevance in today’s Ireland. Personal reflections will also be provided about the writer who died in 2021, aged 92.
Speakers include: the US-based academic and writer Angela Nagle; the University of Saskatchewan academic Professor Jerry White; Toner Quinn, who edited ‘Desmond Fennell: His Life and Works;’ and the writer James Bradshaw.
Finbarr Bradley, a former professor at Dublin City University and one of the organisers of the seminar, said that Fennell’s multi-faceted work continues to offer lessons to readers of all backgrounds, ages and viewpoints.
“Desmond Fennell’s writings addressed many crucial topics, such as the fate of the Irish language and Irish culture, the role of religion in our society, the importance of local government and community life and Ireland’s relationship with the rest of the world,” Professor Bradley said.
“More and more people are now re-examining Fennell’s work and considering how this rich legacy can help inform the debates of today and tomorrow too.
“We are delighted to have assembled such a diverse list of speakers, and we greatly look forward to the discussions, debates and arguments – all of which will be a fitting tribute.”
A writer whose work appeared in leading Irish outlets from the 1950s onwards, Desmond Fennell attained his greatest prominence as a weekly columnist for the former weekly newspaper, The Sunday Press.
Fennell was also a prolific author and pamphleteer, writing 19 books and over a dozen pamphlets, including the highly controversial ‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’ pamphlet, in which he argued that Heaney’s work was overrated while criticising the Derry poet for not using his platform to speak on behalf of northern nationalists.
Several of his books achieved prominence, most notably Nice People and Rednecks: Ireland in the 1980s, published in 1986.
In it, Fennell argued that Ireland had become divided into two opposing groups, with conservatives and nationalists being increasingly caricatured and marginalised by the media and cultural elite.
“The Nice People are the Dublin liberal middle class and their allies and supporters throughout the country. The Rednecks are everyone else, but especially Fianna Fáil under Charles Haughey, the great majority of Catholics and their bishops, all Catholic organisations, the IRA and GAA, Sinn Féin, and the Fine Gael dissidents who frustrate Garret FitzGerald’s good intentions,” he wrote, adding that the liberal project appeared to be focused on ensuring that Ireland could fit “unnoticeably into the British Isles, like a sort of larger Isle of Man…”
The event in Sandymount Hotel – situated close to where Fennell lived for a time – will run from 09:00-13:00 and tickets are available on Eventbrite.