RTE star Joe Duffy has said he gets “shivers” every time he drives past the site where his brother Aiden was killed.
Aiden tragically died when he was just 25-years-old after the steering chassis in his van collapsed as he was coming out of Maynooth in Co Kildare.
Speaking on his Liveline show on RTE Radio 1 to author Maura O’Neill, Joe opened up briefly about his brother’s tragic death – saying he gets a “shiver” every time he drives by the spot where he was killed.
READ MORE: Ireland snow forecast as Met Eireann issues White Christmas verdict
Maura was speaking to Joe about her memoir Leaving to Go Home, which was published in April.
In 1984, Maura lost her parents and brothers Sean, 23, and Noel, 16, when the car they were travelling in was hit by a tree during a storm.
Her story prompted Joe to open up about his own family tragedy, saying: “I know when my brother was killed in a car accident, he was only 25, it was 30 years ago at this stage, every time I drive by the spot where he was killed I get a shiver.
“There's no memorial, you wouldn't be allowed to; it's a very busy road, but the wall that his car was... there was a car, a truck and a bus, but the wall was demolished, and it's been rebuilt but you can still see the fact that this part of the wall is newer than the rest of it.”
In 2020, the Ballyfermot native labelled his brother’s tragic death as “the single biggest wound of his life,” as he detailed the difficulty of breaking the news of his brother's death to their mother.
Speaking on the podcast, Human Nature presented by Rodney Edwards, Joe said: “He was 25 years of age. That is without doubt the single biggest wound in my life, is Aidan’s death.
“He was a good lad, he was a great worker, very bright, he was the youngest in our family and myself and my brother were talking about him the other day, we often talk about him.
“We were very close, and then he was killed in an awful tragedy.
“He was driving the company van, this is broad daylight, coming out of Maynooth.
“The van had been fixed by a mechanic and funnily enough, the last time I saw Aiden was three days before he was killed, and I was up at my mother’s and he had the van with him.
“And he was out, he’s saying to me ‘look at the state of that van they have me in, they’re due to get me a new one’, but anyway the steering chassis collapsed and Aiden’s van careered under a truck, and the truck pushed Aidan’s van back and under a coach that was coming behind him.
"It was full of Spanish students and one of the teachers was killed, so there was two people killed in that.”
Much-loved presenter Joe was working on a different radio programme at the time and recalls hearing about the crash on the news bulletin that afternoon.
But he had no idea that it was his youngest brother who died.
He said: “I remember hearing there’s been a tragic car accident in Maynooth and two people are dead, I said ‘oh my god’.
“And then at 3pm as I came upstairs the chaplain at RTE was sitting at my desk and I was wondering why he was there, and a few of my friends were there and they said ‘we’ve bad news, Aiden’s been killed in a car crash’.
“The hardest thing I ever had to do in all my living life was go up to tell my mother that Aiden was dead, that’s what I had to do.
"I still find it difficult to talk about it, to knock on the door and your mother opens and you have to tell her that her youngest son is dead. Her life changed forever that day.”
READ NEXT:
Woman's Westlife concert experience was 'constant reminder' of disability
Taoiseach Varadkar under fire for 'out of touch' video of first day in office
Woman left blind and unable to speak after fire at Dublin hostel
The Budget 2023 measures that will put more money in your pocket from January
Phil Hogan says Taoiseach and Tánaiste had 'campaign' to oust him after Golfgate
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
