Dominic Kirwan: But for the grace of God, my children weren’t in town the day of the Omagh bomb

Currently the subject of an inquiry into whether state authorities could have acted to prevent the mass killing, Dominic, a father-of-five, said it was only by ‘the grace of God’ his children weren’t in the town centre that day.

“I was at the house that day. My boys normally would have been in the town, but it was for the grace of God they weren't that day because we had friends visiting from the south of Ireland.”

Recalling the events of that day, Dominic added: “The boys were outside playing with their friends and one of them, I'm not sure if it was Barry or Colm, ran into the house and said, ‘something's going on, there's a lot of noise, a lot of ambulances, a lot of sirens going off’. Then I remember not long after that the TVs all froze up because they were basically using the system to get the news out for people in the health service to report to duty. It was only then when we knew the enormity of it all.

“I knew a lot of the families and some of the people that actually lost their lives in it. Even when you go to a graveyard there and you look at headstones, you're always brought back to that particular day.”

Before that atrocity, Dominic, one of six children, has fond music-filled memories of growing up in the Co Tyrone town, especially during the latter years of the showband era.

“Coming from a town like Omagh, you had people like Brian Coll, The Plattermen, Frankie McBride, and many others. That was the environment that I grew up in.”

With his rich voice and wide repertoire, Dominic Kirwan has enjoyed more than 30 years in the music business, and will be performing a couple of numbers at this year’s prestigious Northern Ireland Country Music Awards on February 17 at Portadown’s Seagoe Hotel.

“I haven't selected the songs yet, but I'm fortunate enough that the lads that are actually the band on the night, a lot of them work with me and around me.”

Dominic, 64, has been living “a quiet life” in England for some 20 years, with his partner Helen, looking after horses and donkeys and enjoying walks by the canal.

He is back and forth regularly to Omagh, in between gigging on land or, indeed, at sea – later this month he’ll be taking part in the All-Star Irish American cruise something he’s been doing for around 24 years.

What he loves about the cruise is meeting up with old friends in the business.

“In general, you're not always meeting up with other fellow musicians and artists. So, that week alone (on the cruise), there’s Daniel O'Donnell, Nathan Carter, Michael English, Jimmy Buckley, myself, and many other artists as well, that would never, cross paths. It's always lovely to spend that week catching up with people, to be able to sit down and have a coffee and a chat, and also watch other people's shows.”

Always busy, Dominic has his own weekend of music at the Grand Hotel in Blackpool this weekend, followed by shows with Derek Ryan and a tour with Mike Denver.

Does he have any pre-show rituals? “I try to be as quiet as possible for as long as I can before I get on stage. And hopefully that I’m in good condition to go out there and do the show. But I wouldn't have any particular rituals. I don't have any pre-orders in for pints of Guinness or whatever it is,” he laughs.

Dominic's mother Elizabeth (Lila) was very much a big influence in Dominic's early music career. She played the piano and was a young Irish dancer His father, John, who sadly passed away when Dominic was just 17, listened to a lot of Brian Coll and Brendan Shine.

"Funny enough, Brendan Shine is one of the artists on the cruise still to this day. Little did I ever think when I was listening to his music or watching him on TV that I'd be sharing the stage with him, and becoming friends with him over the years as well. That's a nice connection to my past.”

From an early age Dominic, unknown to himself then, was destined for stage. At the tender age of six he was sent to the local Irish dancing school, where he was to spend the next 14 years as a competitive Irish dancer.

However, a hip operation six years has put paid to his jigs and reels.

“I can still dance, but I don't take the chances of pounding on the floors too often."

Educated by the Christian Brothers it was a Brother Keane who stopped his mother in the main street of Omagh one day and made mention of his singing voice. From then on, he was very much part of school choirs, church choirs, local pantomimes and community hall concerts.

He left school at the age of 16 and took up a job as a car parts storeman, whilst also forming a local function band, The Melody Boys, with some friends.

For the next 12 years Dominic worked at his music, juggling his daytime job and music events until he won a local talent competition with one of the pirate radio stations of the day. The prize for winning the competition got him a minor recording deal which led to his first album, The Green Fields Of Ireland, being recorded. The album and tracks from it became very popular on local radio stations in Ireland at the time.

Dominic's manager through these early years, the late Charlie McBrien, called him to say that the record company Ritz Records, who then had Daniel O'Donnell on their books, was interested in signing him. Things progressed and in January of 1989 Dominic was signed to the label. That same year his first album, Try A Little Kindness, with the label was released and he enjoyed his first ever UK tour as the opening act for the queen of Irish country music, Philomena Begley. He has since gone on to guest with some of the biggest names in the business, including Charlie Pride, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers, Don Williams and Crystal Gayle.

Over the past three decades Dominic has recorded numerous CDs and DVDs, bringing his own vibrant shows to theatres not only in his native homeland, but throughout the UK, Australia and America. His shows cover many musical genres with an eclectic mix of originality, classic country, rock ‘n’ roll, and an Irish ballad or two.

"I sing country songs, but I'm not a country singer. I'd be very much a diverse entertainer in a lot of ways. Some say I’m a balladeer, but that sounds a bit old-fashioned, I’m more a more romantic, love-type song singer.”

Dominic has passed on the musical gene to his children, with his son Barry Kirwan, a well-known name on the local music scene, and with whom he often works, son Colm, a singer-songwriter in Nashville, and son Jonathan a singer-songwriter in Canada.

Only time will tell if any of his eight grandchildren have inherited the musicality, but he has clear advice for any young aspiring musician.

“I would say to any young person today, don't look at music as being your career, have something with you first and bring music with you. And then if you're lucky enough to break in, then you have something to fall back on.”

As for his own plans, he’d like to release some new material this year.

“I haven't recorded much in the last three or four years, so I've been in the studio and started working on a couple of things. I'd like to make sure that I release something later in the year. I have an original song recorded with Barry, a duet, that maybe will get released shortly.”