A host of Irish celebs share their New Year's memories and plans with BRIAN O'CONNELL
MATT COOPER
Author and broadcaster
When I was in college I used to work on New Year's Eve as a barman. There would have been times also when I was working in newspapers and I had to curtail plans for the night. I remember the millennium night when we had to be in work the following morning at 6am, to get the Sunday Tribuneout.
I have five small kids now – it’s hard to find a babysitter – we’ve been out maybe two of the last 10 New Year’s Eves. Often people will come to our home, but in recent years friends have the same problem with babysitters!
This year I don’t think we have anything planned. Last year I fought against turning on the television at 12. I always regard that as a failure – switching on the television to watch other people enjoying themselves.
I always use it as time when I set down a list of ambitions to do for the year ahead. So last year the target was to get a book written and published. Also I have given up the drink on New Year’s Day several years, with the caveat that if Munster win the Heineken Cup I have an opt-out clause!
PADDY COURTNEY
Comedian
To be honest I find it quite a letdown of a night. I have two that stand out for me over the years. One was about 15 years ago when Jason Byrne and myself were invited to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. It was amazing; all fancy fireworks and lots of parties. It was the night that never ended, and since then all other nights pale into insignificance.
Last year I had a rather forgetful night when my girlfriend had pneumonia. We were meant to go to a fancy bash about two miles away from our home and she was too weak to go. Of course, I, being the loving, caring boyfriend, stayed and rubbed her hair. She’s since become my fiancee.
This year I think we are going to have a quiet one with family. With so many people losing jobs in the past year there is almost a guilt attached with having a big night out; it was like that in the 1980s too. You go back to what’s cheapest and easiest. My main resolution is to try and work harder.
JOAN BURTON
Politician
I love New Year’s Eve and I think like most people it’s a time to look back and also forward to the next year. I always start New Year’s Eve with hope that the next year will bring happiness for myself and my family and friends.
One New Year’s Eve that stands out for me was in the early 1980s, when my husband and daughter and I went to live in Tanzania. It was part of an Irish Aid programme and we spent a long time waiting to get housed. So, we were put up in a hotel in Dar es Salaam which had been rented by the university on the beach. We were essentially marooned in the hotel – there was only one bus a day to and from university. It was a beautiful location and of course New Year’s Eve fell during their summer, so it was a wonderful spot to spend it.
In the context of the recent Copenhagen talks, about 10 years later when I was minister for overseas development I went back and the hotel was overtaken by problems with the coral reef and was in the process of being abandoned to the sea.
This year I will spend New Year’s Eve with my brother Paul in Rush. On New Year’s Day I usually join a Fingal walkers group and we go for a very bracing walk on one of the beaches.
On the New Year’s resolutions front, we might be looking to see can we improve our lifestyle and cut down on certain things.
JACK LUKEMAN
Singer
My worst New Year’s Eve was the millennium when I was playing a gig down in Cork in the Opera House. The gig wasn’t the bad thing, more the build-up to the event, like a balloon blown up and the air just went placidly out of it once 12 o’clock came.
There was a party at home in Athy that night and after 12 o’clock I jumped in my car and headed for the party. It’s a three-hour drive from Cork to Athy, but there was fog all the way and it took me about five hours to get there. When I arrived there were bodies lying everywhere and I was completely sober and wide awake. I learned a big lesson!
This year I'm playing in Dolan's Warehouse in Limerick, which is the best rock venue in the whole country. Sometimes I have friends with me and I sing Auld Lang Syne. It's nearly always been a work night for me.
It is a very odd night in that it leads to this singular point where everything is wonderful. I find that a little forced. I prefer to work it; otherwise I become just another drunk person trying to kiss everybody. I gave up on new year’s resolutions as they are broken in about five minutes.
JOHN CREEDON
Broadcaster
The worst one for me would have been when I was 15 or 16 years old and I was allowed go to a teenage disco in Cork in the Mardyke. This had been building in my head for months. It was going to be brilliant and I would meet a girl and fall in love. The disco finished at 11.30pm and four of us ended up walking around Cork kicking cans, as we couldn’t get in anywhere.
In later years I have been working most New Year's Eves – everything from the National Concert hall to gigs for RTÉ. This year I am on the television on a special All Ireland Talent Showrunning until midnight. I have been asked to perform but I've no idea what I'll do yet!
We’ll surely have a few beers in the green room after. My kids are coming up for the show and we’ll go on the town. One of the more interesting gigs I did was when Cork was European Capital of Culture and I presented the event on the streets. I had returned to the city to live and there was this huge sense of being home.
MICHELLE DOHERTY
Broadcaster
The night for me is always a bit of a letdown. I think there are such big expectations that something always happens to make it disappointing. My plans for the night change from year to year. Last year I went to a friend’s house and a few of us had a get-together and it was really enjoyable. We were having a laugh, dancing and singing away, and not having to worry about getting a taxi home.
This year I don’t know yet what I’m doing but more than likely we’ll go over to a friend’s house or something. If I think back on other years, when I was working with Aer Lingus, one year we were in New York in Times Square and it was pretty special.
I don’t think I ever worked through New Year’s Eve, though, so I’ve been lucky. The best thing about it is ringing it in with people you want to spend New Year’s Eve with, and hoping the year ahead will go well.
I don’t make resolutions because I’m not very good at keeping them.
CHARLENE MCKENNA
Actress
My parents owned a pub and so I would always be working with my brothers on New Year’s Eve. When I was younger I used to think, “God I am missing so much by working.” I now realise they were the best days.
The pub would be packed and all the family were there and saying “happy new year” and it was a lovely moment. There would be a huge cheer and hugs and then it was back into the swing of work. It was lovely.
There is something about New Year’s Eve and taking the time to think about the year gone by and hope for the year coming in. When you are spending it in a packed nightclub, you can lose that a bit.
I had a pretty big party last year so it will be the reverse this year. I’ve decided to have a quiet one with the family. The only bad memory I have is one year when I was working in the bar and there was a huge row. I used to get very upset having to watch my brothers wade in and split people up.
In terms of resolutions, I don’t make very determined ones. I make loose ones, and they generally involve aiming to be healthy and happy and trying to lead a good life.
CLAIRE TULLY
Model and columnist
I think it’s an anticlimax for sure and I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s Eve. I remember the millennium one, although I was pretty young; I remember it because of the disaster of the clock in the river. In terms of actual New Year’s Eves, what always happens is that you plan to do this, that and the other and it falls flat.
Last year I had a really good one. We booked to fly out of Ireland for 24 hours of madness in Newcastle. It was freezing but we had really good craic. This year, I’m trying to organise another trip outside of the country for New Year’s Eve. I think people are looking back and saying it was a bad year and I’m not sure I want to stay in Ireland this year as I’ve had so many miserable New Year’s Eves.
My ex-boyfriend used to drive me mad, as he’d go out and get really drunk. I think on at least two or three of the past few New Years he had passed out by 11 o’clock and I was left on my own watching Sky News. It was the worst thing possible.
If I make a New Year’s Eve resolution I know I will fail at it. Say I decide to go on a diet and then I wake up hungover, and the first thing I’d do is have a fry! I am strong willed, so if I decide to do something I can usually do it. I just think it’s better to introduce changes gradually.
BERTIE AHERN
Politician
Over the years I was always happy to see New Year’s Eve signed off. When I was Minister for Finance, you’d go back to work about the 28th of December and we’d always be doing figures on New Year’s Eve. We might sign off the books around teatime so I always looked upon it as a working day over the years.
One of the most memorable nights I can remember was the night RTÉ opened, in 1961. I remember we could see the searchlights up in the sky from the back of our house in Drumcondra. It was a snowy night and all the talk was of Ireland getting its own television station and there was big excitement around the place. I was probably about 10 years old at the time.
In recent years, a few of my good mates have died. These were fellas I tended to be with on New Year’s Eve, friends like Brian Bogle and Tony Kett, who were also great singers. Both are gone and you miss people like that.
My plan this year is that I have no plan. In more recent years I tend to dodge parties and have a few pints somewhere and be in bed early and look forward to the new year arriving.
