Gabriel Byrne Speaks at Shannon Fellowship Benefit: Annual BU Event Honors Former US Ambassador to Ireland

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Some 200 people gathered at the Ritz-Carlton November 15 to hear Dublin actor/author Gabriel Byrne share some of his experiences as an immigrant to the U.S. at a fundraising dinner to support a program which expands educational horizons for Irish natives. Byrne was the guest speaker at the annual dinner to support Boston University's William V. Shannon Memorial Fellowship. The program, founded in 1992 by Shannon's widow. Elizabeth, and family and friends, has sponsored three Irish natives in master's programs at BU.

Shannon was the American Ambassador to Ireland from 1977 to 1981, under President Jimmy Cater. He was also a long-time journalist. He died in November of 1988.

The fellowship was created to memorialize Shannon's lifetime interest in preserving and promoting Irish-American understanding through studies in history, politics and communications.

The Irish fellows spend a year in study at Boston University and at the conclusion of the program, are awarded a master's degree. To date, two fellows have completed the program and a fourth is in her second year of a master's program in Management at B.U.

Current fellow Catherine Roche is a native of County Waterford and a graduate of University College Cork. After taking a degree in English and French, she spent four years teaching English to the business community in France. She returned to Ireland to study for an M.B.A. at the University of Limerick. Then she applied and was accepted as a Shannon Fellow.

"In May I will finish my M.B.A. in Management. I plan to return to Ireland and share the benefits of my experience back there. I want to participate in the rebuilding of an economy and help Ireland take its role in the new global economy," Roche said.

Originally from Dublin, actor/producer Gabriel Byrne graduated from University College Dublin and worked as a schoolteacher before pursuing an acting career. He first came to America in 1988 and has started in 16 films, including: Defense of the Realm, Miller's Crossing, Point of No Return, Into the West, Little Women and The Usual Suspects. His latest film, Frankie Starlight, will open this month in Boston. Byrne was also the executive producer of In the Name of the Father and Into the West.

Part of his visit to Boston included the first leg of a book-signing tour of his latest work, Pictures in My Head. Byrne now lives in Beverly Hills, CA.

The Irish actor was the featured speaker at the event. Before reading passages from his new book, he described the feeling being in "exile" living in the United States, despite the success he has had in his career in Hollywood.

"Like a lot of people who leave Ireland a strange thing happens to you. You no longer belong in Ireland in the same way ever again. And you never quite belong to the new place. You enter into a curious limbo called `exile.' I fell very much at home in America and very alien also. It's a curious limbo. I miss Ireland. But when I'm in Ireland, I miss America," he said.

Byrne noted that his book tries to explain the world he came from - the 1950's in Dublin - and how his life has changed from Dublin to London to Hollywood. He said he wrote the book as gift for his children so that in the future they may better understand his experience. He said he wrote the book as if it where a photograph album, hoping to touch off pictures in the minds of his readers.

Of the two Shannon Fellows who have completed the program, one now works in Ireland and the second has found work here in Boston. One of the program's goal is to achieve a heightened understanding between the two countries through education.

The first Shannon Fellow, Edward Holt, is now a columnist for the Irish Times and a professor of Journalism at Dublin City University. Recent Shannon Fellow Marion Sawey received her master's degree in Communications from B.U. and is currently editor of B.U. Today.

Elizabeth Shannon is the director the Trustee Scholarship Program and the International Visitors Program at Boston University. She has written two books about Ireland, Up in the Park, and I Am of Ireland. She is also the coordinator of the On Common Ground Conference, the first major conference for women of the North and South of Ireland, brought to Boston in 1944 to explore a variety of issues including: media, peace, politics, women's health and more.