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Today's Paper | March 18, 2026

Published 18 Aug, 2025 07:26pm

Irish literary star Sally Rooney pledges UK TV fees to banned pro-Palestine group

Irish author Sally Rooney has vowed to give fees generated by two BBC adaptations of her books to the Palestine Action group, which was recently proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK, AFP reports.

The writer, whose second novel “Normal People” (2018) and its 2020 BBC television adaptation won her international acclaim, announced her plans in the Irish Times.

Rooney said she had chosen the Dublin-based newspaper to publicise her intention rather than a UK one as doing so “would now be illegal” after the government banned Palestine Action as a terrorist group in early July.

“The UK’s state broadcaster… regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can,” she wrote.

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