Ronan Keating remembers his late brother on his birthday with emotional tribute post

Jody Coffey

Ronan Keating paid tribute to his late brother Ciaran by penning an emotional post on his birthday.

The Boyzone singer’s older brother was on his way to his son Ruari’s football match in July when he was tragically killed in a two-vehicle collision on the N5 at Ballymiles.

The driver of the other car and the passenger, as well as Ciaran’s wife Ann Marie, were all treated for injuries in hospital, while Ciaran was pronounced dead at the scene.

The singer took to Instagram today to remember Ciaran in a touching post on what would have been his birthday, while also detailing the grief he is experiencing following his death.

“Today was always going to be a tough one. What should be my Brother Ciaran’s Birthday is instead a day to remember he is gone. Gone too soon. Taken from us in the most horrific way.

“There is no easy way in grief, Just a coming to terms with your situation. We have all been left in this limbo without him.”

The 46-year-old went on to share the realities that come with the grief of losing a loved one and urged his followers to always make time for their nearest and dearest.

“Questioning ourselves and our actions while he was on this earth ‘why didn’t we spend more time together’, ‘why didn’t we speak more,’ F*** I miss my big Brother today and every day since he got on that Green bird to NYC in 1988.

“Call your sibling, your parent, your child , your loved one. Don’t put it off don’t think they will be there tomorrow. Because they may not.

“My heart hurts today. For everyone that has lost a loved one too soon I feel your pain. I’ll light a candle for you C. Remembering you on your Birthday X”

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A post shared by Ronan Keating (@rokeating)

While appearing on a Loose Men panel, Ronan admitted his family were ‘struggling’ in the wake of his brother’s untimely death and shared some advice on what has helped during the grieving process.

“It’s been, it’s been a tough few months dealing with it because it was so quick, so immediate, so fast. Unexpected. We’re still figuring it all out. What we are doing is we’re talking to each other, and we have each other to lean on. That’s really, really important.

“It’s all about communication, talking about it, but also having somebody who’s going through something that feels the same, that you feel they understand what I’m going through.”

The dad-of-three says the public have rallied around him, looking for ways to ease his suffering by sharing their own experiences with losing a close family member.

“That’s a big part of it because a lot of people come up to you on the street and say ‘So sorry to hear about your brother, I lost my dad’ or ‘I lost my mum’ or ‘I lost my brother’. You know, it’s their way of sharing and trying to be on a level with you and understand.”

“But you’re in your own head, you’re in so much pain, you’re in so much pain. It’s just like ‘You don’t understand. You don’t understand what I’m going through’.”

The Boyzone star also confessed that he has leaned on his loved ones for support during this difficult time.

“So to have my sibling there was really, really – especially in the couple of weeks after that we were just rallying around each other and being able to talk. We have a WhatsApp group, you know, the four of us now, and we talk every day, check-in, ‘How are you doing today? How are you feeling?’,” Ronan continued.

“And my bro might be going through a tough time and he’s very vocal about it, and I love that, he wouldn’t have been in the past. He wouldn’t have been as vocal about how he’s feeling, but he is now. So, that’s been very you know, it’s been a very tough few months.”