Actor Dónall Farmer’s role in ‘Irish institution’ Glenroe remembered at funeral

Dónall Farmer, the actor best known for his role in Glenroe, enjoyed "a life lived to the full," his daughter Orla told his funeral mass in Dublin on Saturday.

He played parish priest Fr Tim Devereux in the Irish Sunday night television drama that began in the early 1980s.

The Cork-born actor, who had a career in drama and broadcasting that spanned 50 years, died aged 81 on Thursday.

Farmer "was wonderful and never dull, a bit of a devil," the congregation at his funeral mass at St Joseph's Church in Terenure heard.

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He is survived by his wife Eileen and three children Orla, Catherine and Dónall.

Orla said the family had been overwhelmed by the number of tributes that had been paid to their father.

He served as Head of Drama for RTÉ for a period starting in 1971, and featured in TV shows including Ballykissangel and Remington Steele.

He was a member of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and helped to set up the Everyman Theatre in Cork, and was a two-time winner of a Jacobs Radio and Television Award.

His had been “a life lived to the full, with very many achievements and stories along the way,” his daughter Orla said.

Farmer would be “best remembered” for his role in the rural soap Glenroe, she said. “Glenroe is undoubtedly an Irish institution,” and he was happy to be a part of it, she said.

He had accepted difficulties with his health in later years with “good grace and black humour,” the mass heard. “He was a gentleman and a very caring father,” she said.

Born in Cork, he never regarded Dublin as the real capital of the country, Orla said. While in hospital in the last week, upon finding out one of the nurses treating him was from Dublin, he told her “she should not worry, it wasn’t her fault, and being from Dublin could be helped,” his daughter said.

Monsignor Ciarán O’Mearain told the mass the word “integrity” had been used to describe the actor by his family.

As the coffin was carried out of the church, the man whose life had been dominated by theatre and drama, was given a final round of applause.