Career
Born Edmund Francis Sweeney in Dungannon, County Tyrone, he garnered his nickname "Birdy" from his childhood ability to imitate bird calls which he demonstrated on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Ulster. He was a stand-up comedian on the club circuit for more than thirty years before he gained his first acting work as an extra in British Broadcasting Corporation Northern Ireland"s adaptation of the play Too Late to Talk to Billy in 1982. Sweeney made minor appearances in several major films, including The Crying Game (1992), The Snapper (1993) The Butcher Boy (1997), and Angela"s Ashes, and made his stage debut in the 1989 Dublin production of The Iceman Cometh at the Abbey Theatre.
From 1996, he played farmer Eamon Byrne in the first four series of the British Broadcasting Corporation drama series Ballykissangel.