Waking Hours Danny Byrne, property consultant and Fine Gael county councillor

Danny Byrne (46) is a property consultant and a Fine Gael councillor for the Dublin south-east inner city ward. He lives in Ringsend, but is currently minding his mother in the family home in Co Donegal

Normally I live in Ringsend, but at the moment, I’m minding my mother in Bruckless, Co Donegal. I’m doing her shopping and keeping her company.

She’s delighted having me here and she is being spoiled rotten.

I give her breakfast in bed — tea and pancakes — and then I have free-range eggs and coffee. My mother is 84. It’s a privilege to be able to do this for her. She did this long enough for me and my siblings. I’ve great admiration for her.

There were nine children in my family, but in 1981 my dad drowned at sea with my brother Jimmie. They were out on my father’s fishing boat — the Skifjord. At the time, it was the biggest fishing boat in the country. It was sheltering from a storm on Halloween night when the boat came away from its anchor. It went onto the rocks. Their partner fishing boat couldn’t get to them and so, it sank quickly. There were four survivors, and five lost their lives. My dad’s body was never recovered. He had just turned 40 and my brother was 16.

My mother was left to raise eight children on her own. She just had to get on with it. As she says herself, she had no choice. She had great faith and she still does. Financially, she wasn’t in a great position because all of my dad’s money went into that boat. But fair play to her, she survived. She is a resilient woman and she took it one day at a time. In these coronavirus days, everybody is in the same situation now: one day at a time.

I’m a property consultant for Castle Estate Agents. We deal with houses all over Dublin. At the moment, our office is closed and we are all working remotely. The internet connection is not that great here in Donegal, so my bedroom is my office.

Before the 2km lockdown, we were still showing property. We’d meet the clients and present them with gloves and masks. Then we would open the house and let them have a wander around while we kept our physical distance.

Even in normal circumstances I don’t like people hovering over my shoulder, so I’m not going to do it to somebody else. Besides, I don’t believe that the pushy approach works. The house is selling itself.

We are now using technology to interact with clients and we did some virtual viewings. But realistically, who is going to buy a property based on a virtual viewing? It will only give you a flavour. To make a virtual showing, you have to go to the house with a special camera, but with the travel restrictions, we’re not allowed to do that any more.

Coronavirus has pressed pause on the property market. We are still getting enquiries on properties, but the problem is that we’re not allowed to show them.

Also, there might be problems with financial confidence about getting a mortgage.

Some people who have already viewed properties are bidding. I think now would be a good time to buy because there are fewer people in the market and some clients, for whatever reason, need to sell. Normally, from putting a property on the market to closing, takes about six months, but these are not normal times. The longest part of the process is the legal bit, but a lot of solicitors are now doing electronic signatures for documents. So we are still closing deals.

When people go into nursing homes, if they own a property, they often need a valuation of it for the HSE Fair Deal scheme. Our company decided to do this on a complimentary basis. The idea is that if a time comes and the house goes on the market, then perhaps we will be looked upon favourably. It’s goodwill, and we do the same free service for probate. It’s a softly, softly approach and I think that it’s a very Irish attitude. We get lot of business that way.

Because I’m one of nine, I’ve a bit of an edge to me. You need to have that in a big family. When people hear my Donegal accent, they often assume that I’m easy-going, but when they see me in action, they think differently. I have a steely determination to get things done.

In 2001, I became aware of a Lost at

Sea scheme to reclaim the tonnage of fishing vessels lost at sea. When I enquired about it, we were excluded from it. I hated the injustice of that. I couldn’t understand how some people were looked after and others were not. We made a complaint to the Ombudsman. In 2018, it was finally sorted by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed, and my mother was awarded a payment.

When I’m not working in property, I’m

“My mother was a young widow, left to raise eight children. She took it one day at a time”

a Fine Gael Dublin City Councillor for the south-east inner city. One of the only memories I have of my dad is putting up a Fine Gael poster. I love knocking on doors and helping with issues.

I took a seat where Fine Gael might not have been expected to get one. For six months, I knocked on doors seven days a week. I knew that if I worked hard, I’d get the results. I ran for the Seanad recently and I wasn’t successful, but there is always another day.

I read motivational books about get-up-and-go in business. I like to go to bed at 10pm because I’m an early riser. Before I settle down, I make lists of things to do in terms of work. Like so many political anoraks, I find it hard to switch off.