Activist and author Noel is ‘widely recognised as a brilliant writer’

THE Irish Times paid tribute to former sub-editor Noel McFarlane, the Ballyfermot author and activist, who passed away last month.

Noel was writing his own plays at 13, and at 15, he joined The Irish Times as a courier and copy boy.

By 17, he had penned the ground-breaking novella Down the Corner.

Written in the vernacular, Down the Corner spans three days on the loves of working-class Dublin boys.

Published in 1975, the book was distributed throughout Dublin schools as an incentive to read, giving working-class kids a story in which they could relate, in a language they could understsand.

In 1977, Noel wrote the screenplay for a film version by Joe Comerford.

A tribute in The Irish Times this week notes Noel rose through the ranks of the national paper to become sub-editor and has been “widely recognised as a brilliant and perceptive writer”.

“He was at his finest, perhaps, when writing about things in which he believes. A steadfast member of the Workers Party, Noel used his literary gifts to champion the causes of humanism, socialism, feminism, anti-racism, non-sectarianism, and trade unionism. And he did more than champion them, he lived them every day.”

A message on RIP.ie said Noel, of Ballyfermot Road, died peacefully at home on February 2. “Predeceased by his loving parents Walter and Margaret McFarlane and his brothers Phillip and Patrick and sister Bridie.”