September 2026
Frank McDonald, 24 January 1950 – 5 September 2026
By Kieran Rose
Frank was a great guy, he fought many battles, and probably helped save Dublin from complete destruction in the 1980s. His 1985 book ‘The Destruction of Dublin‘ was seminal, and he followed up this in 1989 with ‘Saving the City‘. He published ‘The Construction of Dublin‘ in 2000 documenting some of the more positive recent developments in the city as well as ongoing challenges. Other books include ‘The Builders‘ (2008) by Frank and Kathy Sheridan and it is a great read on the boom years of the 1990s and 2000s.
On this website is a review I wrote of his 2018 memoir ‘Truly Frank: A Dublin Memoir’ for ‘Architecture Ireland’, Journal of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland. Frank was made an honorary member of the RIAI in recognition of the great work he did on city planning and architecture.
While the memoir is mostly about his journalism, it’s also a good account of growing up gay in much more difficult times, and his delight with gay law reform and all the other subsequent progress. Frank’s memoir is a significant contribution to Irish LGBT history.
Frank wrote a great account of 1970s LGBT protests outside the GPO .. “with tall curly-haired Hugo McManus, who used to wear a long coloured woolen scarf and feather boa, holding ‘Gays Are Angry’ placards, to the bemusement and sometimes contempt of passers-by” (Hugo was a member of the radical group, Gays Against Repression).
Frank and I knew one another from the late 1980s and helped one another out on various projects over the years.
Frank said to me that he had specifically asked the editor of ‘Architecture Ireland’ to ask me to review his memoir, and I was delighted and honoured to do so.
Frank was recently working on another book on planning and I helped him on that. Hopefully it gets published soon.
Kieran
Kieran Rose
IMPACT member and chair of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network.
