Mayo author Sally Rooney vows to donate earnings to group banned by UK government

CASTLEBAR author Sally Rooney has said she will donate her book and TV adaptation earnings to Palestine Action, an organisation recently proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK.

The Normal People writer declared that if such support makes her “a supporter of terror under UK law, so be it.”

Palestine Action was officially banned in Britain in July under the Terrorism Act, with Downing Street warning that support for a proscribed organisation is a criminal offence carrying up to 14 years in prison.

Writing in The Irish Times yesterday, Rooney said she would continue to use her platform “to support direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.” She stressed that while Palestine Action is outlawed in the UK, it is not proscribed in Ireland.

The BBC, which previously adapted Rooney’s novels Normal People and Conversations with Friends, said the author has never been on its staff and decisions about her earnings are a personal matter. It also confirmed no current projects with her are in development.

Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, Palestine’s ambassador to Ireland, praised Rooney for “calling out international law and human rights violations in Palestine.”

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated that “support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act,” noting that Palestine Action was banned on security advice following attacks in the UK.

Rooney however, is not a UK citizen and resides in her native county.