Statement from the Taoiseach on the death of Edna O'Brien

Ireland has lost an icon.

Edna O’Brien was a brave, gifted, dignified and magnetic person.

She wrote her debut novel The Country Girls in just three weeks. Sixty-four years on it is not only a remarkable piece of work but still a landmark moment for Irish women and society.

The book would be banned and burned but Edna O’Brien would never be silenced.

Most people would have stopped and hidden away from the misogyny she faced, but Edna O’Brien kept working on her artistry and became one of modern Ireland’s most celebrated and honoured writers.

Her memoir, Country Girl, is a beautiful and raw piece of work where Edna O’Brien bares her soul.

It is for all of us to reflect upon, and never forget, that to reach her potential Edna would leave Ireland and make London her home.

She beautifully summed up herself and this Anglo/Irish experience and identity of so many people when she spoke of “the wedding of the Country of Ireland and the Country of England in me.”

To her family, especially her children Carlo and Sasha, as well as her legions of fans I want to express my heartfelt condolences as Taoiseach on the passing of such a special person.

Edna said that her writing was her breathing and in recent years while promoting her novel Girl she told interviewers, "I want to go out as someone who spoke the truth."

To say Edna O’Brien achieved this and so much more is the understatement of the century.

May she rest in peace.

ENDS