Celebrating the legacy of Garech Browne: Minister O’Donnell launches Garech Browne Library and Exhibition Room at Farmleigh

The Office of Public Works, in partnership with the Trustees of the Browne Family Trusts, are delighted to announce the launch of the Garech Browne Library and the Garech Browne Room in Farmleigh House. This event takes place on Thursday, 23 May 2024. Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Kieran O’Donnell, will officiate at the launch.

Garech Browne (25th June 1939 - 10th March 2018), was the son of Oonagh Guinness and Dominick Geoffrey Browne, Baron Oranmore and Browne and grandson of Hon. Arthur Ernest Guinness, Earl of Iveagh. His remarkably wide-ranging interests, included, but was not limited to, international literature, art, music, philosophy, religions, history, and horticulture. His collections include many precious items of great rarity and of specialised interest. Garech corresponded with many of Ireland’s greatest writers of the twentieth century and there are many signed and dedicated first editions of their works in the collection.

The Garech Browne Library and exhibition room boasts an impressive collection of books, manuscripts, and personal memorabilia collected by the late Garech Browne during his lifetime. The purpose-built library space will house approximately 20,000 items, ranging from Asian manuscripts and family heirlooms to Irish traditional music manuscripts and contemporary literary and art collections.

The Garech Browne Room at Farmleigh House will showcase an array of artworks and personal items reflecting Garech Browne's life and broad range of interests, including his work in recording Irish traditional music and his passion for Irish and international poetry. Items will be periodically changed to highlight the library's contents and celebrate Garech's significant contribution to Irish and international literature, art, and music.

Minister O’Donnell said:

In his later years, Garech Browne expressed his wish to endow an institutional repository that would ensure the integrity, care, and security of the library's contents. Trustees of the Browne Family Trusts, Richard Ryan and Tony Boylan, identified Farmleigh as the ideal location for the library, entering into a Loan Agreement with the Office of Public Works (OPW) to make this vision a reality. The Garech Browne Library is currently undergoing the cataloguing process and will soon be available for study and research purposes by appointment. Scholars from both Ireland and around the world will have access to this extraordinary collection, highlighting Garech Browne's dedication to preserving and celebrating literature, art, and music.

Guided tours of Farmleigh House are available to book online or on a first come, first serve basis between 10.00 hrs and 17.30 hrs with the last entry at 16.30 hrs.

More information on The Garech Browne Library and exhibition room at Farmleigh.

For further queries please contact pressoffice@opw.ie pressoffice@opw.ie . Photography will be available after the event.

Follow us on X (Twitter) @opwireland

Find us on Facebook @opwireland

Follow us on Instagram @opwireland

Follow us on LinkedIn @Office of Public Works

Garech Browne’s cultural interests took many forms: along with his friend the composer Seán Ó Riada, he was prominent in the major revival of traditional Irish music from the 1950s onward. In 1959, together with poet John Montague, psychiatrist Ivor Browne, and musician Paddy Moloney, he famously established Claddagh Records. As Chairman of Claddagh Records, he oversaw recordings of poetry and music over almost sixty years. The Claddagh catalogue is internationally recognised as authoritative for the very best of twentieth century Irish and some international poetry, and, of course, Irish and some international folk music.

At Luggala in Wicklow, the spectacular estate he inherited from his mother, he gathered together, on a daily and nightly basis, poets, artists, harpists, uilleann pipers, fiddlers, bodhrán and whistle players, seannachai tale tellers, sean nós singers and an ever-widening circle of like-minded friends, reflecting his deep interest in Irish culture. His art collection included works by Jack B Yeats, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Louis le Brocquy, Anne Madden, Hughie O’Donoghue, Edward McGuire, Barrie Cooke and Anthony Palliser.