Irish singer Keith Duffy has revealed that he doesn’t feel able to relax and go out in Dublin as he can’t be sure what reaction he will get from the public.
The former Boyzone star and Coronation Street actor is now in the band BoyzLife with former Westlife star Brian McFadden.
Duffy said that while the duo always feel welcome in countries where they have enjoyed huge success such as the UK and Australia, they can’t be sure of their own safety back home.
While he loves his homeland and Irish people, he feels that the public are far more generous in the way they welcome celebrities from overseas than to those from Ireland.
He said: “My home will always be Ireland; Dublin I love it. I’m very passionate about Irish people and Ireland and I think we have a fantastic hospitality about us but we’re horrible to our own, we’re horrible to ourselves.”
Duffy suggested the stars face negativity in Ireland that starts from the journalists and filters down into the public.
He said: “We don’t do anything (interviews) here. That’s our choice.
“We just wanted a peaceful life, we love what we do. We’re very successful in the UK. They champion us over there and they bring out the best of us.
“You come over here and whether it be radio DJ’s or certain journalists, they write derogatory terms. They’re just negative.
“Boyzone was the same and when we came back together in 2008, I never worked here again. It was always the UK, Australia, Middle East, Europe.
“Brian and I are just back from Cape Town, we’re on our way to Indonesia now to Bali and then we’re off to Vietnam and Cambodia. Then we’re off to Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi but we do nothing in Dublin.
“It really is just begrudging. People don’t listen and they insult…
“I rarely socialise in Dublin because when I go out, you don’t know if someone is going to buy you a pint or give you a dig.”
Duffy added that the negativity he felt from the Irish media began as early as the 1990s, even before Boyzone had had their first hit.
He said: “Back in 1993, Gay Byrne slagged us off to bits and the whole nine yards. Then we (Boyzone) got our first number one in the UK and then we were welcomed back ‘Our boys come home’.
“I don’t need the headache or the heart ache.
“We did 82 shows sold out in the UK, we did two shows in Dublin, and they only sold 50 per cent and they were on sale for six months. We sold out in four hours in the UK. Why would you come back to that?
“Then you get a radio DJ of a Dublin city radio station who didn’t like Boyzone, thought our music was sh*te, hasn’t listened to anything that we’ve done but yet comments on it.”
