Eurovision singer's parents' home a hive of activity

There was disappointment in Dunshaughlin at the weekend when Niamh Kavanagh failed to make an impact in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. The singer's parents, Tom and Betty, live in St Seachnall's Place in the village, and her sister lives in Maelduin. On Thursday last, she came through the semi-finals with the Niall Mooney song 'It's For You', but was unsuccessful in the final on Saturday night, receiving just 25 points and finishing 23rd out of the 25 countries in the final, won by German Lena Meyer-Landrut. Derek Mooney's radio show on RTE 1 broadcast live from the Kavanagh home in Dunshaughlin last week, with reporter Brenda Donoghue. Ironically, Dunshaughlin singer Eamonn Toal, who represented the country with 'Millennium of Love' in 2000, still holds Ireland's best placing in the contest since the new voting system came into play. In the run-up to the Eurovision, there was controversy over the dress chosen for Kavanagh to wear for her big performance, after the design created by couturiers Tyrrell and Brennan was dropped in favour of a more conservative look by RTE. Leading fashion designers Niall Tyrrell and Donald Brennan, who has Meath roots, accused RTE of shoddy, unprofessional treatment and of being "led up the garden path" over the dress they designed for the singer. The dress was commissioned by RTE at 10 per cent of the designers' usual fee. The designers said afterwards that they would not have gone to the lengths they did, spending four weeks on one dress, if they knew there was another dress in the frame. Donald Brennan is a son of the late Donald Brennan, from Spiddal Cross, Nobber, and Olive Brennan from Cushinstown. He grew up in Cambridgeshire in England but was a regular visitor home to Nobber and Cushinstown as a child. His aunt, Amy Brennan, and his uncle, Brendan, and his wife, Bernie, both still live at Spiddal. Brennan's late grandfather, Tommy Brennan, was a tailor and although he doesn't remember him, his skills have been passed on to his grandson. Brennan is a self-taught designer and, with Niall Tyrrell from Galway, set up Tyrrell and Brennan 14 years ago, building a reputation as leading Irish couturiers.