Life
1930-2012; b. Dublin, ed. Belvedere, ord. 1955; one of a group of priests sent to New York in 1959 by Archb. John McQuaid to learn about the new media (TV); wrote the first Radharc programmes for RTE with others, commencing with Down and Out in Dublin; scripted “Radharc in Africa”, prod. by Fr Joe Dunn (19 May 1966);
Forrestal also wrote plays inc. the True Story of the Horrid Popish Plot (1972), Black Man’s Country (1974); wrote he Crozier and the Crown (1988) for the centenary of St. Laurence O’Toole, performed in the Pro-Cathedral, dir. Michael Scott - running to full audiences for ten days; other works include Maximillian of Auschwitz, biog. of Fr. Kolbe (Swords 1982);
suffered dementia in his last decade; settled in Dalkey in 1985; wrote The Second Burial of Bishop Shanahan (Veritas 1990), about the Irish missionary in Nigeria; there is an obit. tribute by Fr. Dermot McCarthy, a co-producer of Radharc (1965-82), given in Dalkey on 13 Sept. 2012 [online].