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A LOCAL WATERFORD father has mustered the courage to say the words ‘I love you’ in the general direction of his children for what is believed to be just the second time in 25 years.

Fergus Scully (60) uttered the words closely associated with conveying warmth for another human being over a cup of tea with his three children, Mairead (32), Ronan (30) and Aine (26).

Fully grown adults, the children had long become accustomed to never overtly hearing their father profess his love for them and over the years just learned to cope with the fact their father would likely never let them know how much they mean to him.

The spluttered, barely audible grumble of ‘I love you’ came after a brief discussion on the health of Scully’s wife, who had spent the last few days in hospital on a trolley in a corridor outside A&E.

Responding to his outpouring of emotion, his children were clearly taken aback.

“Ah, do you think we need to get him checked out. He can’t be right if he’s coming out with that stuff,” confirmed Mairead, clearly worried about her father.

The first occasion such words were uttered can be traced back to when one of his children vomited in church, meaning Scully could abscond from mass early and head home.