IRELAND MY IRELAND: I WAS ATTRACTED TO THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

My favourite location in Ireland to spend spare time:

I love spending time at home in Drumcondra in Dublin with my family. My wife and I have a new baby and a seven-year-old daughter.

I'm happy on any soccer pitch and have been playing with a bunch of friends from university since 1982. It's good fun but we are competitive and like to win. I love the outdoors and especially Wicklow or Cork for walking and shooting.

Actually I can be anywhere as long as I am with friends. But there's nothing like Co Leitrim for peace and ease and beautiful surroundings.

My favourite Irish pub:

I like the Porterhouse on Parliament Street in Dublin. They brew their own beers and have four different stouts.

I also like Hargodan's on the main street in Sligo and almost any pub if the company is good. Hargodan's is very old - over a hundred years - and has shelves and snugs which add character to it.

My happiest childhood memory:

There were six of us and we fought a lot as kids do. It must have been tough for my parents to handle us all.

I remember being puzzled as I watched a smile come over my mother's face at the kitchen table. It was as if she had just remembered something that made her smile and feel happy.

We played games with my brothers such as tag wrestling and soccer matches in the sitting room. There was a lot of rough and tumble and ornaments and crockery would get broken.

One day my Dad told me that my mother was about to have a baby and to pray for my choice of a boy or a girl. Our sister arrived on request the next day.

Funniest family story:

Nothing printable immediately springs to mind, apart from the time when one of my brothers was getting married for the second time.

He had missed my wedding for some reason or other and I felt obliged to ask him 'how come I always go to your weddings and you never come to mine?'

In fact he had been on holiday to Bulgaria where we were going for our honeymoon. He arrived back the day before we were due to go.

It seemed he had had a bad time and he tried to persuade us not to go. But we went anyway and had a brilliant time.

My first kiss:

Danny Cummins, a well known comedian, tricked me and another dozen kids onto the stage of the Gaiety Theatre during one of Maureen Potter's pantos around 1968.

Once he had us there he presented some mistletoe on a pole and sang "Kiss Me Underneath the Mistletoe."

The boys had to kiss the girls to get a bag of sweets or to get off the stage which was more appealing. We all cringed to have to do such an act in a public place with the audience laughing.

First love:

My first love was Mary Cummins, my best friend's sister. I think I showed better taste than she did. It didn't affect my friendship with her brother.

I think the relationship only lasted about three months. I was a boisterous teenager and that was the norm at that age.

Childhood confession:

My mother used to buy dates as a special treat for herself. I can remember sneaking down the stairs in the dark to indulge myself in a midnight feast at her expense. I loved dates.

I wasn't a bad child but I think it was the attraction of forbidden fruit. Whenever she found out somebody had been nibbling my mother always used to say she had six children and one called "I didn't do it."

My favourite story about Ireland:

It was in Italy during the world cup in 1990. Thousands of Irish fans were held on landing in Sardinia. They were herded into small units like sheep while the authorities decided what to do with them.

The authorities feared outbreaks of hooliganism by the English and the atmosphere was explosive. But the Irish picked up a reputation for being good fans and defused the situation by starting to baa like sheep to make their point in a clear but not very aggressive way. I felt proud to be Irish.

Favourite music:

I was first introduced to Ry Cooder's music by a friend. I think the album was called Paradise and Lunch. On that album was a track called "Fooled by a Cigarette." I'm an on and off smoker and I can relate to that song.

I feel that the older I get the older the music I like. I love Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. I think the older songs have cleverer lyrics.

Favourite saying:

I love the saying 'Onward and Upward'. I think it's good to remember this expression when faced with an obstacle. It reminds me not to get bogged down with problems and bad moods, and it works.

My other favourite saying is 'I love you'. I think it is sort of traditional in Ireland for people not to say it, it's kind of assumed. Many people die without letting their relatives know.

My wife and I make a point of being up front with our kids and letting them know it all the time.

Copyright 1999 MGN LTD
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