Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne is 17. With his leaving cert under his belt but no idea what to do next, who better to ask for advice than his dad, Paddy? There’s a (very) short stint studying accountancy (he was asked to leave); a FÁS course with juvenile offenders to become a waiter that leads to an apprenticeship in Jury’s (he was the only one not in prison), and a job in a lighting warehouse (it ended with a collapsed lung). But no matter what the problem, Paddy Byrne is always ready with a wise word: ‘Sure, that’s life, son. Just don't tell your mother.’ This is not just a memoir. It is a celebration of a generation, a celebration of life and of Jason’s wonderful relationship with his dad, Paddy Byrne – the man who never gave a b*llix.

This book focuses on the potential and possibilities for socially innovative responses to the climate emergency at the local scale. Climate change has intensified the need for communities to find creative and meaningful ways to address the sustainability of their environments. The authors focus on the creative and collaborative ways local- scale climate action reflects the extra-ordinary measures taken by ordinary people. This includes critical engagement with the ways in which novel social practices and partnerships emerge between people, organisations, institutions, governance arrangements and eco-systems. The book successfully highlights the transformative power of socially innovative activities and initiatives in response to the climate crisis; and critically explores how different individuals and groups undertake climate action as ‘quiet activism’ – the embodied acts of collective disruption, subversion, creativity and care at the local scale.

Onion O’Brien is in trouble, again. This time he and the rest of the Five O’s are trying to stop the destruction of the Valley, the local wasteland where they hang out. But Mayor Ronald Bump has other ideas – he wants to build new apartments there, so he sets local guards The Ferg and Judge on the children. As if things aren’t bad enough, there’s a new teacher in their school acting very suspiciously. The Five O’s can find out his secret if they manage to win the school talent contest. There’s only one problem – they are completely talentless. Then there’s the discovery of the head of Ned Belly, and the local legend that claims he can reveal where his treasure is hidden … Will the Five O’s manage to outwit The Ferg and Judge … and Ronald Bump … and the new teacher … and solve the mystery of the head of Ned Belly … and save their precious Valley?!

The second book in The Adventures of Onion O'Brien from comedian and Ireland's Got Talent judge Jason Byrne. Onion is in trouble, again. This time he and the Five O's are trying to stop the destruction of the Valley, where they hang out, but they'll have to outwit pesky grownups, The Ferg and Judge, Mayor Ronald Bump, and the new teacher.

‘“Mrs Byrne, you’ve a beautiful, very pale, ginger-haired baby boy with a wonky eye.” As she was handed me by the midwife, my mother wept for all the wrong reasons. She could have shagged a platypus and I still would have come out better than this.’ So begins Jason Byrne’s Adventures of a Wonky-Eyed Boy, a laugh-out-loud memoir that captures the childhood adventures of an accident-prone youngster in 1970s and 1980s suburban Dublin. It was a time when your brother persuaded you to eat the grease behind the cooker by telling you it was caramel, your house was blown up by lightning, your dad mixed up the toothpaste and the ‘arse-cream’, and you fell asleep on Sunday nights to the sound of one of the neighbours – who were all named Paddy – drunkenly singing ‘Magic Moments’ in the good front room. All of this while trying to stop your wonky eye from giving the game away. Jason Byrne’s childhood adventures are nostalgic, heart-warming and, above all, hilarious. ‘When you read this you’ll realise Jason might actually be the normal one in his family,’ John Bishop. ‘I loved this book so much I wanted to cover it in wallpaper and write to all my pen pals about it! Amy Huberman ‘A comedy god,’ The Mirror. ‘Outright king of live comedy,’ The Times.