"We shared the week after going public up in Sligo... of course the press were after us and whatever, but it felt better just dealing with it all together from home. Well, it was only my home then, but during the year we were together Nikki'd practically been living at my family as well every time I was at home.

" I proposed to her during that week... on Christmas Day to be exact. It was the perfect scenario, we had had snow for ones, and were out in Hazel Woods and it was all... well, very romantic really. I'd been about to ask for I don't know how long, but I just didn't dare to, I was so happy when she said yes, it was, well, one of the happiest days of my life!

"Then 4 months later Mae was born, and well, I must admit during the last week before the birth I was dead nervous... I was out touring till just the day before and I'd phone all the time just to see everything was ok In the end she was just like, "Look, Shane, I'm alright, my mum's here, just relax and get on with your work!" (chuckles) Apparently I kept waking her up when she tried to sleep and stuff so she was a bit annoyed I think...

"Then it was our wedding... and I can still say that was the very best day of my life. Nothing can add up to the feeling of walking into that church and knowing that when we walked out again we'd be husband and wife, it was just, incredible. All I'd ever wanted, from the moment I first saw her, it was such an achievement. I've had all thos No.1 hits and albums and whatever, but I must still say that was the biggest achievement of my life. Just getting who I loved, despite our different backgrounds and the age gap and whatever people were picking on us for.

"We had the perfect family life after that. we moved to some little flat in Sligo just after the wedding, and then half a year later we bought the big idyllic house just outside the town. So now I'd had a dream wedding, I had a dream family and we lived in a dream house... in other words, I had all I'd ever wanted. Oh, not to forget, I did have success as well... I think I achieved all I wanted in life just the first 23 years... so I don't really know what I've done the past 40 years!

"Then we just, well, lived together in our little house. Mark and his wife, Lorraine, lived relatively close to us so we spent quite much time with them. Lorraine and Nikki were such great friends they spent much time together even when myself and Mark were out and about on the other side of the world! It was probably pretty much that they had both gone from fan ship to where they were now and they understood each others situation and whatever.

"Then, about 4 years later, we had our second child, Nicholas and it was still all the perfect family. Everything both me and Nikki could ever had asked for!