Al Byrne: born 1924; died October 16th, 2009:AL BYRNE, who has died aged 84, was a biochemist, journalist and writer. He was one of four members of his family involved in broadcasting, the best known of whom is his brother, former Late Late Showpresenter Gay.
An actor at the height of the amateur drama movement in Ireland, Al Byrne was a stalwart of the Dublin Shakespeare Society. He was praised in this newspaper for his "outstanding performance" as Creon in Antigoneat the Athlone Drama Festival in 1957. He was followed into the society by Gay, who failed to distinguish himself as an actor but learned that his voice was ideal for broadcasting.
Al Byrne was born in 1924, one of six children of Edward Byrne and his wife, Anne (née Carroll). The family lived on Rialto Street near the Guinness brewery where his father worked as a labourer.
Following in his father's footsteps, Byrne left school at 14 to join the Guinness workforce as a number-taker. This involved recording the registered numbers of wooden casks as they were loaded on to barges for dispatch.
He continued his education, the company paying his fees to attend night classes at technical college. He sat for the Trinity College Dublin entrance examination and got it. However, the second World War proved a bigger attraction and, with a friend, he travelled to Belfast to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Both were accepted as trainee pilots, and returned home to tell their parents and await their call-up papers.
But his mother intercepted the letter from the RAF and secretly destroyed it. His parents encouraged him to apply to Trinity and Guinness agreed to allow him to work a split shift so that he could attend lectures. His fees would come from the household budget.
First, however, as a Catholic, he had to get a letter of dispensation from the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, who had banned members of the Catholic Church from entering he college.
Dr McQuaid initially refused to issue the letter but subsequently relented on condition that the aspiring student only attend lectures and not join any college societies.
For four years Byrne rose at 5am every morning, was in the brewery by six and cycled to Trinity for his first lecture at nine.
Later in the day he returned to Guinness to work the rest of his shift. Disregarding the risk of eternal damnation, he took a full part in college life, joining the college historical society as well as the squash and rugby clubs. His mother, a devout Catholic, supported him throughout his Trinity years.
He graduated in 1948 - and in 1954 secured a master's - and on his return to Guinness was appointed to the No 1 staff, the first son of a Catholic labourer in the company to do so.
His parents were delighted. Gay Byrne described it as the family's "proudest day". "If there wasn't a brass band playing quietly in the background when the wonderful news was announced, there might as well have been."
Al Byrne was later posted to Guinness's Cork office, then to Galway, where he hunted with the Galway Blazers, and finally to Ballina before returning to Dublin in 1962.
He became involved in promotional work and was active in the company's sponsorship of the Festival of Kerry, Castlebar Song Contest and the Wexford Opera Festival. Other such work included the Guinness Radio Clubon RTÉ, which he produced and presented.
By now Byrne was an experienced broadcaster, having presented radio talks on Raidió Éireann, written short stories, which were read by members of the Rep, and presented music programmes. He was involved with Telefís Éireann from its early days, presenting both Pick of the Post and Headlines and Deadlines, a review of the press.
With Gay he formed Gabbro Productions, which made a number of TV documentaries.
Back at Guinness, Byrne was appointed director in charge of the company's licensed house management course, which aimed to enhance the Irish pub experience.
He retired from full-time employment at Guinness in 1978, though he continued his association with the company for another 20 years as a communications consultant. In 1979 he won a Jacob's award for the Discoveryradio series. In the 1980s he wrote the science and technology column for The Irish Times, and also contributed articles to the Rite and Reason column.
His wife, Frances (née Larkin), daughter Hilary and son Ian survive him.