Press release
Minister Catherine Martin T.D. pays tribute to Commitments director Alan Parker
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin, T.D. has expressed her sadness on hearing of the passing of acclaimed British director Alan Parker, aged 76.
Speaking this evening, Minister Martin said:
“Alan Parker delighted audiences with a broad canvas of great movies, from the historical drama of Mississippi Burning to the musical comedy of Bugsy Malone. However, he became part of Irish film history with The Commitments. The movie brought Roddy Doyle’s novel of life in the Dublin of the late 1980s to life. The movie, released in 1991, captured the soul of the capital’s music scene and heralded the dawn of a new decade, one in which Ireland came of age on the world stage through its music and culture.”
At the close of that same decade, the Londoner also brought the work of another great Irish writer – John McCourt – to the big screen, with the movie of the acclaimed Angela’s Ashes. Alan Parker had other links to the island, working alongside Bob Geldof back in 1982 on Pink Floyd – the Wall.
My thoughts are with his family at this time.
Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam uasal.”