...THE BIG INTERVIEW
“When we first met I was going through a long separation and Bryan was separated too.
“We kept our relationship quiet for a while because it was nobody’s business and we had to be protective of the other people involved.
“I had started proceedings years before I met Bryan, so there was no single point which was good in any way. Break-ups are heartbreaking and what’s the point of putting each other through years of horror because life is too short and you can’t be making things difficult for people if you can just get up and help people move along.
“People don’t understand how lonely it can be, being in the wrong relationship, sometimes people look at you and think, ‘Could you not have stuck it out?’ But the loneliness can be terrible. People see you in a relationship and yet you’re on your own, you’re lonely.”
Una has two grown-up sons Tim, 33, and 27-year-old Fionn.
Opening up on the tragic death of her daughter Sorcha, she said: “I had a daughter in between the two of them, I had a cot death years ago, that’s the reason there’s a big gap between the boys. I suppose when she
was born I had my son and I was so desperately happy but after she died and my other son was born, I couldn’t keep him out of my sight, I was just terrified.
“I remember having a party for him when he was two because I was just so excited that he was still here.
“When you think of how often we check them to see if they’re all right, life is precious and it also made me realise when you get good times you have to make the most of them.
“I always wanted a girl, I still think of her, there are days I don’t think of
her now and I suppose it’s almost kind of a relief. It was real heartache, I had a pain in my heart for a couple of years afterwards.
“When people say they have heartache it’s what they have because it hurts. I miss her desperately and on her anniversary and her birthday, sometimes I’m grand and sometimes I’m not, it just depends.
“Losing a child makes you stronger and more appreciative of life and, what do they say, Carpe Diem, seize the day.”
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