The making of Fintan O'Toole – inside the new RTÉ documentary

I first met Fintan O Toole when I interviewed him for my 2016 film Bobby Sands: 66 Days. Despite being a fierce and long-term critic of the republican movement, he spoke with such eloquence and depth around Sands about his impact and legacy that it helped elevate the film in so many ways. So, it was no surprise to me at all that he came into my mind again for the subject of a documentary once his peerless part memoir, part excavation of the Irish psyche We Don't Know Ourselves was published.

Fintan’s strong and insightful opinions are felt by many, supporters and detractors alike. For my part, I think he is the most important public intellectual of the last quarter of a century. I wanted to make the central thesis of We Don't Know Ourselves a core element of the film, supported by Fintan’s personal history. The filming process itself was relatively straightforward. We began in the summer of 2023, capturing Fintan at both the Borris and Dalkey book festivals. We then filmed some spinal interviews with Fintan, alongside footage of him at home in Dublin and in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, a place he is continually inspired by.

Despite his high intellect, Fintan is a very down to earth guy. He is as comfortable with the locals in Ballyvaughan as he is breaking bread with presidents, economists and the cream of academia. He carries his obvious intelligence well and without a hint of arrogance.

It has been a genuine honour to give audiences a chance to digest and appreciate Fintan O'Toole’s unique take on Ireland.

One of the highlights of making the film was a sequence we filmed with Fintan, his younger son Fionn and his grandson Byörn, on a visit to the National History Museum in central Dublin. Fintan’s father Sam is memorialised there in the form of a rare bird, a Pallid Swift, never before seen in Ireland when Fintan’s dad Sam found it dead in Ballsbridge many years ago. He offered it to the National History Museum collection where it became a permanent exhibit. Respecting their father’s wishes not to be buried traditionally, the O’Toole family chose its presence there as the place where they go to remember him. Fintan recounting this story to his grandson in the museum was a moving experience. It also speaks more widely to Fintan’s view of the world, that the present can only be measured by an understanding of the past and an awareness of the future.

Another highlight was Fintan’s visit to Belfast, allowing Fintan to wrap the history of Northern Ireland into Ireland’s broader historical and contemporary narrative. This he can do like few others.

It has been a genuine honour to give audiences a chance to digest and appreciate Fintan O’Toole’s unique take on Ireland. As a committed citizen myself, born in Northern Ireland but with a strong Irish identity, making the film has given me a chance to highlight some of the complexities and challenges we have lived through as a society. Together with the great writers, artists and musicians we have recognised on television,

I believe Fintan O’Toole’s story sits naturally within this rich canon. And I am personally delighted to have been the one to document Fintan’s impressive life and work.