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DOCUMENTARY ON ONE: OLD MAN BELFIELD

Belfield 4 Image Name: Belfield 4
Michael Byrne aka Old Man Belfield(1) Image Name: Michael Byrne aka Old Man Belfield(1)
Old Man Belfield 2 Image Name: Old Man Belfield 2

On the 11th of January 2021 the body of a homeless man was found on the grounds of University College Dublin’s Belfield campus. The person who identified him confirmed that he had been living in UCD for decades and his name was Michael Byrne. He was to be buried in a modest grave with very little fuss but in fact this turned out not to be the case. His passing was hugely mourned because Michael Byrne, or Old Man Belfield as he was affectionately known, had an enormous impact on the lives of tens of thousands of people. He left behind him an abiding question: “who was he and where did he come from?” Intriguingly, nobody seems to know…

From the RTÉ Documentary On One and produced and narrated by Donal O’Herlihy.

Old Man Belfield airs on RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 24th September at 2pm.