For the bioinformatics professor and museum curator, see Brian D. Farrell

Brian Francis Farrell (born January 9, 1929) is an Irish author, journalist, academic & broadcaster.

Although born in Manchester, England Farrell moved to Dublin Ireland during the Second World War. He was educated in Ireland at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, University College Dublin and Harvard University in the United States. In 1955 he joined the administrative staff of University College, Dublin became director of extramural studies and in 1957 assistant to the registrar. In 1966, he began lecturing in the Department of Ethics and Politics there and went on to become senior lecturer in politics. In the early 1980s, having run the Department of Ethics and Politics for a number of years since the death of the departmental head, Professor Rev Conor Martin, Farrell was controversially denied the post of department head and professor, an action that became a cause of major controversy. The post instead was given to Professor John H. Whyte of Queens University Belfast. In 1985 in compensation he was made Associate Professor of Politics, where he became the senior lecturer in Irish government. He retired from academia in the mid 1990s.

Farrell has also enjoyed a successful career as a media commentator. He has written articles for the Irish Press and the Irish Independent. During the 1950s he worked with Radio Éireann and in 1962 he joined the newly established Telefís Éireann. Since then he has presented RTÉ's main programmes of comment and analysis - Broadsheet, Newsbeat, 7 Days, Today Tonight and Prime Time. He also continued to work on radio from time to time.

Farrell covered major events at home and abroad, starting with the first visit of US John F. Kennedy to Ireland in 1963.

He has presented the results programmes for ten Irish general elections. He has interviewed several US Presidents, including this interview with Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Farrell has also written a number of books on Irish political history, including Chairman or Chief (regarding the office of the Taoiseach), The Founding of Dáil Éireann and a biography of Seán F. Lemass.

Two of his sons, Doctors David Farrell and Theo Farrell, followed Brian Farrell into academia. Brian Farrell's wife, Therese, is the daughter of the late Irish Leader of the Opposition James Dillon.

Publications

• Chairman or Chief? (Studies in Irish Political Culture) (1971) - ISBN 0717105350 - Editor
• Founding of Dáil Éireann (1971) - ISBN 0717105369
• Seán Lemass (1983) - ISBN 0717110745
• Communications and Community in Ireland (1984) - ISBN 0853427275
• Consensus in Ireland: Approaches and Recessions (1988) - ISBN 0198275455 - Foreword
• Child Poverty in Ireland (2000) - ISBN 1860761836

1929 births | Living people | Irish television personalities | Irish journalists