@revengine said:

So was anyone else waiting for something big to happen with the Peggy Sheeran character? The film seemed to focus a lot on her - with the she's afraid of her father, doesn't seem to like Russ but really seems to get along with Jimmy - only for it to turn out that she just eventually ended up never talking to her father again. And IIRC Anna Paquin only had one line. All the time the film used with scenes devoted only to her, showing her relationship with each character, the pay off was unsatisfying. They could have just had it with the scene with Frank in the nursing home with the nurse at the end where she sees the photograph Frank is holding of Peggy and Jimmy and comments that she's never seen her and Frank replies she doesn't speak to him anymore and it would have been just as impactful.

Here are a couple of articles about that:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/02/entertainment/de-niro-paquin-irishman-trnd/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D35vg_8dUg

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/anna-paquin-responds-irishman-no-dialogue-controversy-1202188617/

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvg7xv/anna-paquin-isnt-annoyed-that-she-only-says-seven-words-in-martin-scorsese-the-irishman-netflix

I had wondered if some of her scene were cut, at the end of the day it work because she is a brilliant actress who can act with her face.

I agree I think her silence speaks volumes.And like a female youtuber said recently it is not quantity but quality that counts.

I actually saw her character arc as one of the redeeming qualities of this film. Almost everything else in the gangster-genre has been seen...but I appreciated her sister's confession at the end that they could never really feel safe (nor seek protection!) because he was so violent with others. This idea--that fear is not only what happens to you but what might happen to others--was a welcome relief and payoff.

Just to expound a bit, I remember when I saw the scene with the shopkeep I was enamored (as we are called to be with gangsters) and thought how awesome it would be to know no one could ever mess with you as his kid. This payoff came perfectly at the end in that simple line that they could never share their struggles with him, nor even remain in relationship in the case of Peggy.