Bouncing back, having joined Renua Ireland with plans to run for election, Finbarr Filan opens up – and breaks down in tears – in this fortnight's Hot Press Interview.
Filan talks extensively and emotionally about his younger brother Shane, going into business with the former Westlife singer and how their property development company went bust, forcing Shane to declare bankruptcy and move to England.
Talking about the low points, Finbarr wells up as he singles out having to drive Shane and his wife Gillian to the airport.
"The day I left them to the airport with the house emptied, was the lowest point," he says. "And even now I haven't talked about that in two years and it has gotten to me. That for me was the lowest point because he was gone and I was on my own and it wasn't that I... I didn't begrudge him, it was just that this was it. It was over and I was putting him and his family on a plane and I didn't know when I would get to see him again."
Now working as a Centra manager, the 47-year-old father of three has just announced that he will be Renua Ireland's candidate for Sligo-Leitrim in the next general election. Elsewhere in the interview, he gives his opinion on all the key issues of the day, including water charges, abortion, the banking inquiry, the legalisation of drugs and more.
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