CONFESSIONS OF A DOTING GRANDPARENT

They say that grandchildren are life’s greatest joy, but at the same time grandparents bring equal amounts of support, wisdom and love to their family’s lives. Here, six well-known granny and grandads chat about their special relationship with their grandkids You’re a grandfather to baby Molly, how are you enjoying that role?

It’s a brand new experience for us as a family in the sense that Rebecca’s daughter was only born this year. We are in the middle of the first stages of this. She lives in Tullamore, so we don’t see as much of her as we would like to, for obvious reasons. It is great being a grandparent because it is the next phase of life and grandchildren are the next generation coming along. It is all part of the natural cycle of life.

Are you looking forward to bringing her to matches?

Molly’s dad was saying recently that he’s really looking forward to bringing her to the Grand Prix because he’s a big racing fan. I said to him, “You might want to wait a couple of years first!”

What was it like when you got the call to say Molly had been born? Were you filled with a sense of pride?

It was absolutely fantastic. Molly wasn’t well for the first few weeks of her life and it was a tense time. Everything has settled now and it’s lovely.

Has Rebecca come to you for any advice?

Not really. Rebecca is great with kids because she was previously in that line of work. She can handle herself.

For you, what’s the biggest difference between being a dad and grandfather?

I was reasonably hands-on myself as a father and I did my best. It was also interesting because when I first became a father I was very busy in RTÉ and I had a career to look after. It was a real balancing act. I have four kids and it is busy when they’re small. Because I was working on The Sunday Game and my summers were taken over, going on holidays and trips away were difficult. I wasn’t as available as much as I would have liked to have been. You always just work your way through that type of thing.

What name will Molly call you?

I don’t know yet. Let’s wait for Molly to start talking and we can go from there!

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