People 7 Fearkeptmefrom doingwhatIreally wantedtodoorsay Q&ARevJanetBroderick The Donegal-based priest on childhood games with her brother actor Matthew Broderick, how people react when she preaches sermons, and who could play her in a biopic Howagreeableareyou? I think life has made me agreeable. The people who like me think Im agreeable, but I tend to be spontaneous. If someone asks me to come over to dinner and they ask, What do you like to eat? I would say I eat everything but I dont like fish. Theres things like this Im not agreeable on. People can find you very disagreeable when you dont like fish. WhereisyourfavouriteplaceinIreland? I love being in the water, so the beaches near my home in Portnoo, Co Donegal. You just feel the waves and look up at the hills. You know, I grew up in Manhattan in New York, then New Jersey and then ultimately in Beverly Hills, California. Its a big change. I also just love sitting in kitchens and chatting. on the left-hand repertoire, says Dowse. Theres a direct line from Fleishers legacy to what Freya has just done. Like Terris, Fleisher had to create an alternative musical path and mastered the left-handed repertoire before becoming a conductor at the Baltimore and Annapolis orchestras. For Dowse, whose own journey has connected Terris to the story of the renowned Fleisher, it has been something of an Odyssey. I love storytelling at the piano, and Im proud to share this story of Freya, says Dowse. This love [of playing the piano] as well as the love of challenge, courage and prophesying has kept me moving forward. Its reminded me that storytelling creates connection, beyond the TV cameras and Facebook posts, and that this is what we are and what we need. This is why the piano continues to find a way. Back in Lisburn, Terris plans on studying music at university after completing secondary school. In a perfect world Id love to go to somewhere like Cambridge, Edinburgh or Trinity College Dublin. Somewhere academic because, you know, I am a history girl. But I do just love music. Who knows, we will see. Following in Fleishers footsteps, Terris has already proven that there is nothing she cannot do when she puts her mind to it. Describeyourselfinthreewords Funny. Creative. Welcoming? I think that people are very often afraid of entirely being themselves and letting their true feelings come out. Having a sense of humour is humble making. It shows youre not judging anyone. Some people could come to church and they have had very frightening or sad or joyous experiences. They want to feel that its a home for them emotionally and spiritually. I want them to be really and entirely comfortable. You dont want people to feel rejected. A really central thing for me is that they dont have to be somebody other than who they really are. Whendidyoulastgetangry? I get very angry at the misuse of power. People in a position of power and dont think of those weaker than themselves. They use their power to really just manipulate and get what they want. That really makes me upset. Whatisyourstrongestchildhoodmemory? My father used to put me on the swings and he would push the swing and then say that I was not to come back down. To just stay up there. Then the swing would come down and hed push it and say it again. Id come back down and hed say, You really cant keep doing this. I would be hysterical and I wouldnt be able to stop laughing. I remember my brother Matthew and how he loved this certain game. We had this long hallway and I would put him in a pillowcase and drag the pillowcase really fast up and down the hallway and he would be giggling the whole time and would My father used to put me on the swings and he would push the swing and then say that I was not to come back down. I wouldnt be able to stop laughing keep asking for me to do it again. Whathaveyoulostthatyouwouldliketohave back? My father got me these beautiful antique earrings at an antique shop in Donegal town. There were rubies in the centre with gold on the outside. I lost one and I kept the other one for many years and Ive finally lost that one. I would really like them back. Wheredoyoucomeinyourfamilysbirthorder andhasitdefinedyou? Im in the middle so I cant ever make up my mind. I see both sides all the time. I think I should pick a side sometimes, but it never feels really comfortable. I think when youre in the middle, it really increases your understanding of other people, different social and economic backgrounds. Theres this beautiful psalm, it talks about God picking you up and setting you down in a wider place. I think thats what happens when youre with people from different backgrounds. Whendoyouthinkyouwerehappiest? I remember when my children were placed on my stomach. It was incredibly moving. There are also moments when youre preaching a sermon and you can see that people are really experiencing love. Whatdoyouthinkhappenswhenwedie? This story really has a lot to do with my faith. I was in Ireland when I was 14 and a woman who I really loved, a neighbour in a cottage near us, was being waked. It was the first time Id been to a wake of someone I really cared about and loved. Then it got dark and they were saying the rosary and the priest came in. I was walking home and the stars were shining and I thought: this woman is not in just her physical body. Shes eternal. She has a soul. We live on beyond our physical time on this Earth. Whichactorwouldplayyouinabiopicabout yourlife? Id like a cross between Lily Tomlin and Ingrid Bergman. Super sophisticated and gorgeous. Whatisyourbiggestcareer/personal regret? Doing other things rather than listening or really being present. Fear kept me from doing what I really wanted to do or say. I regret times I was afraid to take risks. I regret that a lot. Inconversation withJohnOConnor THE IRISH TIMES Weekend Saturday, August 1, 2026 DavidSedarisontheseriousbusinessofcomedy.Page8 WalledtownsofIreland:RositaBolandvisitsWexford.Page10 PatrickFreyne:GlenHansardwasIrelandsbandleader.Page5 WEEKEND THE IRISH TIMES Saturday, August 1st, 2026 A WOUND IS HEALED Afterdecadesofheartbreakandnearmisses, Mayofinallyhasitsmomentinthesun By 2 Cover story A HOUSE OF PAIN NO MORE MayosAll-Irelandtriumphreleased75yearsof pent-upemotioninoneunforgettableafternoon ByKeithDuggan M acHale Park in Castlebar has always been best suited to those Saturday-night matches in winter, when the season is young and the promise uncontained. An ideal Cover story meme, the jokes came thick and fast. Through all that, Mayo footballers and supporters never shied away from speaking about it, nor returning to All-Ireland finals. Maybe we make too much of the football, Fr Leo Morahan, the former county board executive, said back in 2007. Mayo has the 4 Cover story 2004, when he was beginning his sec- ond term as Mayo manager. By September, he had the county back in an All-Ireland final, when Kerry defeated his young team. Like most GAA counties, the network of names and connections within Mayo football are impossibly dense: you could fill the People GLEN HANSARD WAS OUR NATIONAL BARD TheFramesfrontmanwasIrelandsbandleader, anditfeltlikehewouldbedoingthejobfor alongtime ByPatrickFreyne I n the 1990s, I wasnt convinced by The Frames. They felt a bit mainstream. A bit major label. I was a young idiot. Later, a friend convinced me that I 6 Music THE PIANIST WHO PLAYS WITH ONE HAND ONLY Freya Terris is the first pianist to pass their Grade 8 piano exam playing solely with their left hand ByJohnOConnor L ike countless other young musicians, Freya Terris discovered her love of music at the piano stool. Yet her journey has been anyt People 7 Fearkeptmefrom doingwhatIreally wantedtodoorsay Q&ARevJanetBroderick The Donegal-based priest on childhood games with her brother actor Matthew Broderick, how people react when she preaches sermons, and who could play her in a biopic Howagreeableareyou? I think life has made me agreeable 8 Interview I DONT LIKE EXTREMISTS. BUT I FIND THEM THRILLING AS CHARACTERS TheUSwriterandhumouristtalksabouttheseriousbusinessofbeingfunny onthepageandathislivereadings ByPatrickFreyne WEEKEND INTERVIEW DAVID SEDARIS A few days after I interview David Sedaris, I receive a thank-you postcard fe Interview 9 I just tried to get through my days [at school] without being found out as gay. Im 69, so no one even really imagined then that anyone could be anything that awful back then DavidSedaris: Idontknowhow tobuyaplane ticket.Idontopen anymailthat doesntlooklike fanmail. Photograph: Leonardo 10 Feature HISTORY EMBRACES US EVERY DAY IN WEXFORD In the first of a four-part series on Irelands walled towns, we visit Wexford, where history is quite literally in peoples back gardens ByRositaBoland I f Billy Colfer talked to you about history, youd sit up and listen, Paul Walsh tells me. W Feature field. We discovered that Sparrow was a surname of ship owners back in the 1830s, Hussey says. Hussey brings me out into their back garden to show me where, more than a century ago, a house was built against the other side of their wall. The medieval wall thus became a party wall. It towers 12 Photo essay Formedtotacklethe siltingissueintheriver Liffey,thereservenow extendstotheentirety ofthebay WILD AT HEART Photographs: DaraMacDónaill andEndaODowd Words: EndaODowd O f the 797 Unesco biosphere reserves across 147 countries, Dublin Bay is the only one to include a national capital Photo essay DublinsNorth BullIsland,partof theDublinBay Unescobiosphere reserve,isnow hometo180 differentspeciesof bird.However, conservationists warnthat,asworks tostopcoastal erosionareerected alongthecoastline, theirlong-term impactonthe ecologyand landscapemaybe difficulttopredict. Photographs: 14 Feature TWINS PEAK WERE PROBABLY MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER Whetheritsthehighsofalwayshavingcompanyor thelowsofsensingtheotherspain,thebestpartof beingatwinisneverbeingstuckforafriend ByJenHogan I relands birth rate may be falling, but the incidence of twin births continues to rise, with al Feature 15 Its sometimes fun and its sometimes not, because they could steal your stuff had a friend beside you. In fact, the twins only really went their separate ways when they went to college and that was a major shock, Emma says. Rebecca says there are lots of upsides to being a twin, but the T 16 Essay he vintage front page shows a street full of Dublin holidaymakers smiling at the camera, sitting on the kerb, waiting for the bus in the sun. But these early queues soon dissipated. Bank holiday spoiled by weather, announces the reusable headline. The citys thoroughfares were WEEKEND E Essay 17 Governments might fancy deploying bank holidays to foster cohesion and goodwill, but that doesnt mean everybody has to play along crashing out of the Fifa World Cup was that Friday, July 24th, became the bank holiday that never was. Would Keir Starmers mooted last act have applied across 18 Feature BE LIKE JOHN LENNON AND BUY AN IRISH ISLAND Four islands for sale off Mayo, Donegal, Tipperary and Galway, with bidding starting at 299,000 ByJessicaDoyle W hen you attract screaming fans everywhere you go, what do you do to get some peace and quiet? You buy an island, of course. Tha People 19 SARAH MOSS Teenage dieting made me an expert in mental arithmetic I bofin. It is suitable for grazing and features two natural freshwater lakes. The island measures 1.2km by 0.4km and rises to a maximum height of 63.3m above sea level. It is a Special Protection Area under the EU Bird 20 Environment TOMAÍ Ó CONGHAILE Our beautiful, troubled planet needs a skilled reconciler T he World Cup may be over but the fallout continues: Trumps unwanted interventions; Germanys early exit; football not coming home; Argentinas post-final petulance. Not to mention, of course, that banner. Environment 21 British navy, spent several days imprisoned in the Tower of London on corruption charges, and died of smallpox before reaching 40. Initially, a strait running between the two main islands was named after him and, by 1765, the Falkland Islands had become the English name for the entire 22 Obituaries FIRST WOMAN DIRECTOR OF A NATIONAL INSTITUTION, LIBRARIAN AND ACADEMIC Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon Born: January 28th, 1943 Died: July 23rd, 2026 Patricia (Pat, Patsy) Donlon, who has died peacefully aged 83 at Blackrock Hospice, Dublin, was a leading light in that remarkable generat Obituaries 23 RENOWNED ORNITHOLOGIST AND COMIC ACTOR WHO STARRED IN THE GOODIES Bill Oddie BillOddiewasamemberofcomedy trioTheGoodies,whoseanarchicTV sketchshowairedinthe1970sand 1980s.Photograph:IanGavan/Getty Born: July 7th, 1941 Died: July 25th, 2026 Bill Oddie, who has died aged 85, was a mul 24 Last word DAVID McWILLIAMS ThefirstvictimofAI? Theeconomy W e are in an era of great technological advances, or so say all the tech bros who are championing not just AI, but a whole host of technological innovations from finance and healthcare to supply chain management and communications. In