Family favourite Irish television and radio presenter Ryan Tubridy opened up about the death of his beloved dad yesterday.
Ryan, whose father Pat died last Wednesday following a short illness, spoke poignantly of his deep sense of loss.
He said: “It’s a strange place to be and essentially join a club you don’t want to be a member of. It’s a very humbling experience.
“My dad died peacefully and he had a very good life and he was 77. He was born in Galway and was a good guy and gave me a love of history and humour.”
Tubridy took a break from the radio airwaves last Thursday and Friday following his dad’s death and thanked Pat Kenny for filling in for him on The Late Late Show.
He also revealed how the kind words of a Dublin bus driver helped him through the difficult few days.
“The day of my dad’s funeral on Friday three of us went down to get a taxi and a bus came and I said, ‘Let’s get the bus’. My sister put her money in the machine and we were only going five or six stops.
“And then the man said, ‘Ah Ryan, Jaysus, the day that is in it, sit in the back, don’t be worrying, Jaysus, are you alright?
“I said, ‘Thank you very much, what’s your name?’ He said, ‘Fergus’. I said ‘Fergus, that’s the kind of thing that keeps a man afloat on a day like today.’ We got the bus and had great craic.”
Ryan also said Ireland’s rugby win over Wales got his family smiling the day after his father’s funeral.
He said: “We watched the match as my dad would have done proudly with his cup of coffee.
“Myself and my family were particularly grateful to the Men in Green on Saturday. That win was important to us.
“They wouldn’t have known that, of course, but my dad did play rugby in his day and it was lovely and he would have watched it.
“We were happy about that.”
