Ronan Keating has hailed his sister Linda's contribution to the Marie Keating Foundation, saying: "She has dedicated her life to the foundation for the last 25 years."
Ronan was a guest on Friday night's Late Late Show, and host Patrick Kielty began the interview on a lighter note, asking Ronan to reflect on Boyzone’s debut on the show back in 1993.
Ronan smiled and admitted: "The next day I went to work in a shoe shop in Dublin and I thought I was God’s gift after that first one. We could do no wrong.
"Little did we know, in the weeks that followed after, that the video would appear in more and more places - and people were laughing at us rather than applauding us."
Ronan then went on to speak about The Marrie Keating Foundation, the charity the Keating family founded in honour of their mother, who died of cancer in 1998.
"It’s been phenomenal," he told Patrick. "Sadly, we had to set it up in the first place. Losing Mam, it’s still very tough for all of us as a family. But to think that her name, her legacy, has gone on in this country for 25 years, and it wouldn’t be what is if it wasn’t for my sister Linda.
"She was the one who, when we were kicking the can around the house after Mam died, incredibly angry, sad, depressed and really struggling, it was Linda’s idea.
"Why don't we start a charity? Use our profile, use our creativity - and we did. We wanted to educate people about cancer because were incredibly naive ourselves, as a family, when Mam died."
The truly tragic thing about his mother’s death, as he put it himself, was that "it was the most curable form of breast cancer. But Mam came from a generation that was scared to go to the doctor and get her breast checked.
"And because of that, it killed her, unfortunately. And as a family we were uneducated when Mam was first diagnosed . . . It was Linda who took it upon herself. She left her job in New York, her life there, and came home and looked after Mum for the last year of her life. And dedicated her life to Mum in every shape and form.
"And then we lost Mum and Linda was here in Ireland. She didn’t go back to New York, she had this incredible life, she was loving life, running restaurants and bars and she decided to set up the foundation. We all did, as a family.
"And she has dedicated her life to the foundation for the last 25 years."
Linda was in the audience and was brought on stage to talk about the charity. Not surprisingly, the first thing she did was to praise her brother’s own efforts for the foundation and cancer awareness.
Sh told Patrick: "We wouldn’t be where we are today without him, without his profile, without him being front and centre."
Patrick also brought up the further tragic loss of Linda and Ronan’s brother Ciaran last year, in a motor accident. A teary Ronan told him: "We’re sticking together as best we can. It’s been a tough one."
For more information on the Marie Keating Foundation, visit mariekeating.ie
The Late Late Show, 9.35pm Fridays on RTÉ One
