The father of a man who is autistic and non-verbal has said that giving his son the chance to sing with Irish country duo Foster and Allen was "better than winning the lottery".
John Finn's son Martin, who is now 33, was diagnosed as autistic at the age of two or three.
While Martin cannot talk, he has an extraordinary gift: the ability to sing.
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people.
It also affects how they make sense of the world around them.
Earlier this week Upfront discussed a rise in diagnoses of autism and ADHD in children and adults.
Watch: Upfront with Katie Hannon's discussion on ADHD and autism
John told Upfront: The Podcast that doctors initially thought that Martin may have had a problem with his hearing.
"When Martin was born, for the first two years, everything was perfect," he said.
"Then it started with ear infections, and he had grommets on a couple of occasions, and he wasn't talking.
"So, the medical professionals thought it could be something to do with his ears."
Martin's mother Norma took him to see a specialist where he was diagnosed as autistic.
"At that time, we knew very little about autism to be honest," he said.
"It started off with a mild form of autism and then as he got older, we could see it was quite severe."
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John says his son found comfort in music from an early age.
"When he was a baby up to 12 months old, if he woke up at night time and you put a cassette on…he'd just go to sleep again.
"The music would just help him to go back to sleep again - so we could tell at a very young age the music had a good effect on that."
A native of Lisdoonvarna in Co Clare, John moved to England in the 1970s and met his wife and Martin’s mother.
The family now lives in Manchester where Martin went to a special school for autistic people.
It was there as a teenager that his love of music was discovered, with one teacher noticing his talent.
"He would tell us he would be trying to teach Martin different subjects, and Martin would carry on singing, and he would keep singing over the top of him," John said.
"So, they thought if this is what he likes and this is his passion, they got (him) a karaoke machine, got some backing tracks and recorded a CD when he was going to school."
Martin was even invited to sing at a teacher’s wedding.
"They asked would Martin come (to the wedding) as a surprise and get him to sing some songs," John explained.
"Martin sang two or three songs, and they couldn’t get over it."
John said the school then put an album together with Martin covering songs by artists like James Blunt, Coldplay and Westlife.
"That was really when we realised that he's a real passion for it."
Martin has been inspired over the years by some of the great country singers such as Johnny Loughrey, Charley Pride and George Jones.
But he came to the attention of Irish music duo Foster & Allen after an Irish DJ based in Manchester contacted Foster and Allen’s manager, Seamus O’Connor.
Martin was invited to sing on their new album ’50 at 50’ covering Westlife's Flying Without Wings.
Martin was flown from Manchester to Shannon to record the track and appear in a music video.
John said the opportunity was akin to winning the lotto.
"If one person won the lottery, it would just make probably one person very happy," he said.
"To get a chance to sing with Foster and Allen, that's a three-way lottery for us.
"That's for Martin, and he gets a lot of pleasure out of it, it was a very special.
"We could say thank you a million times and it wouldn’t be anything near enough."
Tony Allen said that he had never met anybody like Martin before.
"Martin's been singing at different functions over the years but he hasn't recorded with anybody else", he said.
"So we said, yeah, no problem."
Tony said Martin learned the song perfectly.
"That's exactly what happened - he did it exactly as we did it - there was no changes whatsoever.
"He's amazing man considering he can't talk but he can sing."
Mick Foster said they wanted to do whatever they could to encourage Martin's talent.
"It worked a lot better than we thought or hoped," he said.
"There was no problems in the studio and we did the video the next day and (there was) absolutely no hassle whatsoever.
"You just don’t see his disability when he’s singing, you just see his talent."
Mick said he hopes Martin’s story gives other parents with autistic children a "boost" to see that "while they mightn’t be able to do one thing, they’ll be able to do something else".
"If we were any help at all to Martin and people like him isn't that kind of what it’s all about?"
John said he is hopeful his son’s music will continue.
"We would like that to carry on for him.
"If he’s asked to sing or if it’s a little gig – whatever it would be – that would be great for Martin."
However, he worries for Martin around a lack of available respite care in Manchester.
"We used to get some support - he would go to a day centre and he would have respite," John said.
"He was having that up to the first (COVID-19) lockdown, which is just over five years now.
"But nothing started up again for Martin."
John said they are wary of giving Martin supports that will not work for him.
"We are looking for it, but the support we've been offered is the wrong type of support," he said.
"If we accept the wrong support, it will put things in a way (where) we wouldn't be able to manage Martin at home.
"For instance, he struggles if you put him in with other people with special needs.
"What we've asked for is that he would be able to be taken out in the community and taken places like we're taking him and that he would have respite on his own.
"They're struggling to provide anything like that."
John said Martin has also been offered a place in residential care, but he said "that's not happening".
"He's quite happy at home. His home is like a music shop. He has thousands of CDs, records, cassettes, you name it.
"That's his life – so it's not loads of medication he needs; he needs what he gets pleasure from."
Listen to John Finn speaking to Katie Hannon on Upfront: The Podcast here, on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.
Watch Upfront with Katie Hannon Mondays at 10.35pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.
