Happy 30th Birthday to my son Shane!

 

I am so proud of my eldest son Shane. He has brought 30 years of happiness to Cepta and myself.
Good-natured, hardworking, dependable, generous, loyal, focused, an organiser par excellence, and sporty. Like his younger brother Dáire (photo), he has been a life long Man United supporter and wore his treasured Champions League 1999 Final jersey on his birthday. Due to COVID restrictions, we had to limit the amount of people who could attend his birthday celebrations in our home garden. But it was so wonderful to witness that so many of his friends that he had during his primary and secondary schooldays are still his close friends today and were there for his special occasion.
Our home garden was also the location for his first birthday in 1992 when his mom Cepta not surprisingly held him in her arms. And darling Cepta still has her arm on his shoulder 29 years later.
1991- The Year of Shane
The world has changed so much since the year that Shane was born. In 1991, I was setting up Galway's first 7 day live music venue and a nightclub, helping to provide a platform and opportunity for young bands of all musical styles to perform as well as a venue for national and international acts from all over the world (Galway's first World Music pub); was on the organising committees of the 'Release the Birmingham 6'/'Maguire 7' campaigns, the 'Spirit of 1916' 75 years Celebrations, the Tirellan-Crestwood-Castlelawn-Brookdale-Sandyvale residents, and the first combined Galway City Residents Associations' campaign committee; and ran for election to the Galway City Council (corporation)- It was only the only occasion I went for political office, campaigning as an independent 'Community Action' activist. With all these distractions in that year and beyond, I have to state that I was not the best of fathers. Far from it. Thankfully though for Shane and Dáire, they were both blessed in having a strong, dependable, caring and loving mother who gave them so much time whilst still working full time as a manager of the busy UCG students’ union travel office. My darling wife Cepta has also been my pillar of strength through both the tough times and happy times of our long life together.

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