The Late Late Gay Byrne

Amen!

The influence of the Late Late Show on Irish society was mostly regrettable, but like Cato, I have very warm memories of Friday evenings in the living room, falling asleep to Uncle Gaybo's soothing tones. God bless his soul.

I have to say the Late Late Show in honour of Gay Byrne made me very angry. I actually turned it on in anticipation of a warm, if elegiac, get-together of the Irish people over the airwaves. (I rather sympathised with Bono's regret, expressed on a telephone call, that he couldn't be "at home" at this time.)

But it wasn't a moment of togetherness-- it was a veritable victory lap. The audience and panel was packed with the grizzled cultural revolutionaries of the last fifty years, and from Michael D. Higgins to Vincent Browne they were unabashedly triumphalistic about the changes they had brought to Irish society, and the role of the Late Late Show in that change. It was all so cosy (in a bad way) and complacent and smug. And of course, that official chaplain to Irish progressivism, Fr. Brian Darcy, was present to give it his benediction.

The smugness was typified by Bob Geldof reminiscing about his first interview with Gay Byrme, where he accused the State, politics and Church of being corrupt, and then included Byrne himself in the charge. He was chuckling over this all these years later-- a pillar of the new Establishment.

I feel a bit uneasy to be so bitter on such an occasion. I don't want to dishonour the memory of a great man. I'm as much moved by the idea of "Uncle Gaybo", an uncle to the nation, as anybody else. I'm as nostalgic about the Late Late Toy Show and Friday nights stretched in front of the TV as anyone else. But the manner of his sending-off really rattled me.

I suspected the tribute would turn into a liberal crowing session and avoided it for that reason. I sense this present moment is the peak of the long 1960s revolution. Many of them , the generation that never grew old , in their own eyes mainly , are now going off to meet their maker.

Perhaps someday in a saner time people will look back at moments like last night's show in the bewildered way secular Ireland now views the Eucharistic congress or even the visit of John Paul II.

I have to say the Late Late Show in honour of Gay Byrne made me very angry. I actually turned it on in anticipation of a warm, if elegiac, get-together of the Irish people over the airwaves. (I rather sympathised with Bono's regret, expressed on a telephone call, that he couldn't be "at home" at this time.)

But it wasn't a moment of togetherness-- it was a veritable victory lap. The audience and panel was packed with the grizzled cultural revolutionaries of the last fifty years, and from Michael D. Higgins to Vincent Browne they were unabashedly triumphalistic about the changes they had brought to Irish society, and the role of the Late Late Show in that change. It was all so cosy (in a bad way) and complacent and smug. And of course, that official chaplain to Irish progressivism, Fr. Brian Darcy, was present to give it his benediction.

The smugness was typified by Bob Geldof reminiscing about his first interview with Gay Byrme, where he accused the State, politics and Church of being corrupt, and then included Byrne himself in the charge. He was chuckling over this all these years later-- a pillar of the new Establishment.

I feel a bit uneasy to be so bitter on such an occasion. I don't want to dishonour the memory of a great man. I'm as much moved by the idea of "Uncle Gaybo", an uncle to the nation, as anybody else. I'm as nostalgic about the Late Late Toy Show and Friday nights stretched in front of the TV as anyone else. But the manner of his sending-off really rattled me.
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I was worried the chattering classes would give Gaybo a state funeral with all the trappings. At least that's one small mercy.

A priest friend of mine used to say it was very unnerving to preach at Mass when you looked down the church and saw Gay Byrne looking up at you.

It would appear from all of the comments made so far that we all, including me, have this confused sense of a love/hate feeling for Gay Byrne. I believe the "love" part of that equation is very likely based on nostalgic feelings of ones youth spent growing up in a very different Ireland compared to what we have today. The "hate" (and I don't mean that literally) is due to his undoubted influence in giving traction to this change we have witnessed in Ireland over the past 20-30 years. I grew up in Ireland in the 70's and 80's and like everyone else have lots of fond memories of sitting around the TV on a Saturday and in later years Friday night watching the Late Late Show with my siblings and now deceased parents. Now, a resident in the US for 21 years, I too this week, upon hearing the theme music for his radio show in particular this week and to a lesser extent the Late Late Show felt transported back to another more simpler and less materialistic era. However, nostalgia has a habit of clouding ones judgement. Without ever meeting the man, I do believe Gay Byrne was very likely a decent and kind man but one who like everyone else had his flaws. I believe that all those years of immersion in dialogue with the "social progressives" of the time had an undoubted effect with his outlooks and beliefs becoming more leftist over time. Its like the frog in a pot of water getting slowly boiled without knowing its happening. You could say and what we see today proves it, is that the vast majority of the country was getting boiled in that pot with him! It was the relentless "drip drip" of the social Marxist agenda coupled with church bashing falling daily into the pail called Ireland, until before anyone knew it and could come to terms with addressing and processing it properly, the pail was full and is now overflowing beyond control.
Looking back at clips of his shows this week and after watching the Late Late special online its crystal clear that Gay was a social liberal. He didn't just give voice to it....he became it. I also agree with other posters on here about the Late Late special. It was like a lap of honour for the "social progressives" and it was nauseating to have to listen to the sanctimonious self congratulatory drivel coming out of the likes of Geldof and Higgins. It was also noteworthy that they had the usual line up of liberal "Catholics" in Brian Darcy and Mary McAleese making their standard appearances. Clips of old shows painted the conservative voices back through the times, whether in the audience or on the panels, as a bunch of gombeens…..usually ordinary, heavily accented, country folk versus the more 'polished" D4 types on the opposite side. I find it quite absurd to also read some articles this week claiming that Gay was a conservative. I don't think people in Ireland have any idea what the term exactly defines. There is no, or little that I can detect, conservatism left in the political sphere in Ireland and anyone with even the tiniest of keen eyes can see that the media is completely skewed to a left wing social Marxist agenda. Just ask John Waters and Kevin Myers about that. Its interesting that Gay Byrne, the man who gave a voice to the lefty "downtrodden" didn't come to the aid of the likes of Waters and Myers by publicly making a statement standing for the rights of free speech in journalism. But yet that term "conservative" is thrown out there flippantly to describe certain people such as Gay Byrne. Why? Is it because the new establishment wants to get as many more chances as it can to put the last remaining nails in the coffins of the generations born and bred before the "enlightenment". After all most people who don't take the time to scratch below the surface would likely think that Gay Byrne, while giving a voice to "progressives" on his shows, was just doing that as part of his job and when push comes to shove was still at heart just one of that older "conservative" generation....hence the only reason I can think of as to why they have been calling him a conservative. Just another chance to swipe at the older generation. It can't be because of any political beliefs. He was known to have aligned with FF and typically vote for them in elections, yet all of the main parties in Ireland, whether in government or in opposition, are dancing to the same liberal progressive social tune as well as more or less the same economic policies, so there is nothing to differentiate them in any regard and certainly nothing to say one is in any way conservative policy wise. I did hear that Gay Byrne regretted Ireland joining the EU so that is perhaps the only nugget of political conservatism I can detect in him. Is he labeled a conservative because he was a regular mass goer? Just because someone is a regular mass goer that doesn't mean that person has a clear understanding of the truths of the faith, or an awareness of what is contained in the catechism. Unfortunately most Catholics at one end of the spectrum are the "cafeteria Catholic" types who just pick and choose what they want to believe and abide by or don't want to believe and abide by, while at the other end of the spectrum you have "Catholics" who were so badly catechized and have no interest or compunction in exploring the faith on their own and who as a consequence have absolutely no knowledge at all about Catholic teachings and what Catholics are supposed to stand for. Remember Gay Byrne fully endorsed same sex "marriage" back in 2013 and had his endorsements attached to the "yes" side literature. In an interview I heard he clearly stated that SSM was long overdue. I also heard him in another interview I listened to yesterday state that its fully time Ireland had a discussion about end of life issues. I understand he himself was fighting sickness and likely was tired of physical suffering but giving a voice to euthanasia, coupled with his prior support of SSM, to me shows someone whose Catholic beliefs were seriously compromised. The Catholic belief in how great merit can be gained through an offering up of ones suffering is clearly at odds with Gays statement about opening the door to euthanasia. I don't judge the mans soul. That is Gods right alone. I do pray however for his soul. Requiescat in pace.

I watched his programme Would you believe? a few times. Religious TV programmes generally are dire but it was interesting he spent time producing programmes on an aspect of life that was becoming less and less important for many Irish people but which is important to many others.

His programme on Enda Kenny the then Taoiseach was a revelation in that he appeared completely inarticulate and ended up affirming some sort of vague deism as I recall. The Taoiseach had also been a national school teacher with the important role of teaching the catholic faith. It was pretty obvious little of it had rubbed off on the head of government. Nothing in it was surprising but the series showed the vacuous and collapsed faith of so many prominent citizens and celebrities.