007 Pierce plans visit ‘back home’ to the banks of his beloved Boyne
Pierce Brosnan has announced he intends to visit Navan in the coming months.
He made the remarks in London to another Navan native Thomas Crosse, better known as Crossy of FM104 when speaking about his new film Doctor Fate. He said he plans to go to Navan when he is filming another movie in London soon.
“I’m going to go back there (Navan), “ he told Crossy. “I’m doing another film here in a few months so I’ll go back home.
“Navan is deep in my heart on the banks of the Boyne. Across from the town my grandfather, God rest him, built a little bungalow that was my home”.
He finished the interview by expressing further love for his hometown saying “Love To Navan”.
He also paid tribute to his co-star in the project Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
He said: “He has great mana, he’s from the islands. He’s worked hard all of his life, coming from a rough background, hardship, worked his tail off to be a wrestler and be the best wrestler.
“You have to tip your heart to a man like that. He has such bon ami and joie de vivre. He has a good heart. He brought it to the set. That kept us (the cast) in a cocoon of kinship and friendship. It was a beautiful shoot.”
Last month Brosnan made a powerful video appealing to Meath County Council to step in and stop plans for the installation of a waste water pipe into the River Boyne by Dawn Meats.
During the video he said: “Water is our most precious natural resource. 70,000 people get their drinking water from the River Boyne. The River Boyne is also one of the most important sites for salmon in Eastern Ireland and home to rare plant species.
I grew up on the banks of the River Boyne where it meets the Blackwater, it is one of the most beautiful rivers in Ireland and should be nurtured and cultivated as a sentient being of history, beauty and life force of nature.”
Brosnan has frequently visited Navan, including a trip in 2013 with his mother, May Carmicheal, a member of the Smith family, who lives in London. During that visit, they visited old haunts around Academy Street, where he had first lived with his mother, taking photos at the fountain under the bridge there, and visiting St Mary’s Church, where Fr Dwayne Gavin gave them a tour. They bumped into former footballer Colm Coyle and had their photo taken, and met the late publican Michael Marmion on Ludlow Street, as well as auctioneer John Carty on Academy Street, and the late Tony Walsh, who had pushed the young Pierce along the street in his pram.
Pierce and his mother also visited his grandparents’ derelict house on Convent Road in Athlumney, and Andy Brennan Park on the banks of the Boyne .