Donegal chef Brian Danny Minnie Ó Domhnaill on love and life

Well-known Donegal chef Brian Danny Minnie will share his experiences of being a gay man in rural Ireland at a time when homosexuality was illegal in a radio documentary to be broadcast next month.

An GaYel , a documentary to be broadcast on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on Monday 7 August at 11 am, follows the well-known chef and musician from Anagaire as he prepares to wed his partner of 17 years Paul Gallagher.

Brian, whose family run the award-winning Tigh Danny Minnie restaurant in Anagaire, grew up in rural Ireland at a time when homosexuality was illegal in this country and the church was still all-powerful.  In this documentary by Dónall Mac Ruairí, Brian talks about what it was like for a young gay man at that time, and later a grown man working as a teacher in Dublin.   He talks about the challenges and the secrecy, but also about coming to terms with his sexuality, about having the confidence to be himself, and about the acceptance he experienced from friends and family from the very beginning.

In An GaYel , Brian explains how his own experience has given him a particular empathy for those on the margins, like immigrants to this country for example, who face their own challenges in order to make a good life for themselves.

Th e documentary, however, is as much about what binds us as opposed to our differences.  Brian and Paul have a wedding to prepare for, and like any other couple, there’s a lot to be done.  Dónall Mac Ruairí follows them as they complete the to-do lists, and along the way we learn about how they met, and how their love of many years brought them to this day.

An GaYel will be broadcast on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on bank holiday Monday, 7 August at 11 am.