'His pictures are everywhere': Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan tells of grief over death of son

Charlie McGettigan and his wife Goretti lost their only son Shane in 1998 when he was killed in an accident on a construction site in Boston

By: irishmirror.ie

Nov 24 2024
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'His pictures are everywhere':

Eurovision legend Charlie McGettigan has said the tragic death of his son made him closer with his wife – saying they still have pictures everywhere of their son.

McGettigan and his wife Goretti lost their son Shane in 1998 when he was killed in an accident on a construction site in Boston. He was 21.

Speaking to Sunday Independent’s Life magazine, McGettigan said: "You never get over it, but you learn to live with it.

"I kind of use the analogy that if you lost an arm or a leg, it's gone, but you have to get used to it. You have to live with it, with that thing. And you first of all can't accept it. We were sort of saying, 'He's going to walk in the door any minute. For about six months, you'd have bouts of crying.

"I was back at work, somebody walked in the door seeing I was sobbing, then I didn't know what to do. I was particularly vulnerable because in the music business, you're travelling a lot at night on your own, and you have too much time to think.

“Initially, when it happens, you're dealing with the arrangements, the funeral, and all the people coming to the house, blah, blah, blah... That keeps you going. We had a great family, and a great GAA family; he played for the Leitrim senior football team. They were a big consolation."

Ireland's entrants in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Charlie McGettigan (l) and Paul Harrington, hug each other after their song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" was voted runaway winners in Dublin — Ireland's entrants in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Charlie McGettigan (left) and Paul Harrington, hug each other after their song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" was voted runaway winners in Dublin

He didn't go for counselling.

"I've been told that this thing can break up a marriage, but it actually drew us together a lot more. We were able to deal with it ourselves, console one another. But still, it's this imagination of a box, and the whole Shane scenario is in that box. Sometimes, both of us will open it up and we'll start talking. His pictures are everywhere.

McGettigan describes how his fellow Eurovision singer Paul Harrington was at the airport when Shane's body was brought home, recalling how he was “there” for him.

"He was there for me. Shane will always be 21. I always think of him at that age. And you know what I really miss? I have six grandchildren, and I just often wish that Shane was here to see them and to be with them.

“He was a great man for lying down on the floor with kids and jumping on them and stuff like that. I miss that he missed it. We should be the ones that are gone. He should be over here. But anyway, I don't dwell on it all the time."

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