A letter has been sent to the chair of Roscommon County Council asking that the freedom of the county be bestowed on artist, doctor, and Booker-shortlisted author Brian O’Doherty (89), who was born there.
Writing in the on irishtimes.com this morning, Ballaghaderreen native Patsy McGarry reports:
In an interview with The Irish Times last month Mr O’Doherty said “Ireland does not appreciate its foreign achievers. It’s kind of an insult if you achieve. You’re supposed to fail and then you’ll be adopted.”
Born in Ballaghaderreen in 1928, he studied medicine at UCD, Cambridge, and Harvard before moving to New York where he devoted himself to the visual arts.
A letter detailing Mr O’Doherty’s many achievements has been sent to Cllr Orla Leydon asking that he be granted the Freedom of Roscommon. It is signed by artist Robert Ballagh, academic Prof Luke Gibbons, head of collections at IMMA Christina Kennedy, Trinity College art historian Dr Brenda Moore McCann, and Michael O’Dea of Rathmines College.
You can read the article in full here
