Lighten Up: Gabriel Byrne — the sexiest man in Irish farming
Gabriel Byrne and Fiona Victory in 'Bracken', which was first broadcast on January 6, 1980. File Picture: RTÉ Archive
Long before I became the sex symbol in farming that I am today, there was another.
His name was Gabriel Byrne, and he did more for Irish farming than a thousand ministers for agriculture.
He played the part of Pat Barry in the rural soap and, for the first time in the history of the nation, a farmer caused a stir in the female population.
You, of course, have to remember that before Pat Barry, the closest thing to a sex symbol in Irish farming had been Tom Riordan.
And God help us all, Tom was about as sexy as an egg sandwich found under the seat of your car a week after the Ploughing.
Tom Riordan and his son Benjy were the opposite of sex symbols. They were a class of farming contraceptives.
It was Gabriel Byrne in the portrayal of Pat Barry, in the rural soap , who broke the mould.
The brooding, dark-featured man of few words — but clearly a man capable of plenty of action given half the chance — was almost more than the female population could handle on a Sunday evening. He had his eye on a damsel in the neighbouring farm, but his eyes didn't stop there.
Yerra, t'was the timeless old classic love story. But this time, the heartthrob for the ladies was a farmer! An Irish farmer!
We would never be the same again. As a consequence, the 1980s were a great time to be an Irish farmer. We were like Tom Cruise on a Massey.
With little more than occasional grunts by way of dialogue, Gabriel Byrne was able to convey so much.
He gave farming a shot on the arm that propelled generations of men into the arms of women. Men with little to say suddenly became all the rage.
Bamboozled by Byrne, the ladies believed that the silence was golden. A generation of tongue-tied Irish farmers owes Gabriel Byrne an awful lot.
So, I was very disappointed last week that the farmers of Ireland didn't come out in force to welcome our hero to Cork.
With Gabriel Byrne attending the Cork International Film Festival, the leading lights in Irish farming should have been there.
The Cork International Film Festival would have been the ideal occasion to show our appreciation, by organising a tractor run down through St Patrick's Street.
Half of them in the convoy wouldn't be married at all today, or their parents before them, if it weren't for Pat Barry.
I, for my part, was in Cork on Friday night, showing my support for the wonderful film festival.
And while I did my best by drinking pints of Beamish and talking loudly, a tractor running down St Patrick's Street would have been far more effective.
With now well gone from our TV screens, the danger is that one day the women of Ireland may see us farmers once again as we really are. We cannot allow this to happen.
The spirit of the brooding farmer, the spirit of Pat Barry, needs to be maintained. After , Gabriel Byrne went to Hollywood and, of course, became a big movie star.
From brooding farmer to leading man, the transition was seamless. He led the way for many more Irish actors who came after him.
How finished up, all those years ago, is anyone's guess. I'd like to think that Pat Barry got into milking cows and put up a fine big milking parlour and made a fortune.
But somehow, I don't think Pat Barry's heart was ever really on the land.
His feet might have been on the ground, but for the brooding boy of , his mind was on a farming affair of a totally different variety.
