My Greystones: Niall Paskins

Pasky!

t’s somewhat fitting that Niall Paskins should be our My Greystones star on St. Patrick’s Day…

Niall with Paul Richards circa 4am

Like so many Greystonians before him, Niall headed abroad for a little while, and soon found himself staying abroad for quite a lot longer than planned.

Having now lived in America almost as long as he lived in the town where he grew up, Niall is, like so many Irish abroad, a mix of the old and the new. Lucky enough to have started his life here, our native son is almost exactly half-Irish, half-American at this point. And all-fun.

The fun kick is the one thing that’s never changed over the years and over the miles with Niall Paskins. You can see it in that grin of his.

Father & daughter

For anyone who was lucky enough to hang out with this handsome young man back in the 1970s and ’80s, mischief and something close to mayhem was never far away. And when Niall finally split for the border, it felt as though he was living some kind of rock’n’roll dream. Here was a guy, you felt, who was happy to put the F.U. in fugitive.

Times haven’t always been easy for Niall though, with much of his recent years spent in court, battling for full access to his much-loved young daughter. Luckily, he does have someone to love, and who loves him – his partner, Dawn, a rock’n’roll rock for our wandering son to come home to.

But, hey, enough of our jabbering. We’ll leave it to Niall’s beautiful sister, Gwen, to explain why it is that so many people are mad about the boy…

Man & missus

There are four years between Niall and I, he is my “little brother”. I remember the night he was born, we were in my grandparents house in Courtown and I heard my mum going down the stairs in the middle of the night, getting up to see what was happening and being told to go back to bed – that I would have a little brother or sister in the morning.

I did not know what a brother or sister was, or what I was supposed to do with it! Anyway, he came home from Gorey District Hospital and I wasn’t quite sure how I should feel, only that he is part of my life ever since!
Have an early memory then in Greystones, of playing that twirling-round game in the kitchen that makes you dizzy and when you stop you fall down. Used to call it “dizzy wizzy”. So, Niall would have been about three at the time, and both of us twirling madly round like dervishes, and hearing a sound like a strangled cat. It was… my mother’s Siamese cat, Chang, held by the tail and being swirled round and round by Niall who assured us all that the cat wanted to play too.

Gwen Paskins

Then, in the days when whole families went to Greystones Harbour and the Dock to SWIM and sit on the beach(the very idea!), in about 1966/1967 – Niall would have been about three or four at the time – we were taken down to play on the beach on a warm sunny day and Niall was enticed with the statement that he could throw stones in the water. We found different things great fun and entertaining back then, and I vividly remember our parents sitting on a rug and settling down in the sunshine whilst Niall rushed towards the water’s edge. He picked up a rather large rounded stone with his two hands and raised it over his head to fling it into the water and make a large splash. Only thing is, he forgot to let go of the stone and threw himself forward with it and disappeared under the water. He did re-appear again in a few seconds though, and remained a feature of Greystones for years afterwards.

He drove my mother mad at times as he used to insist in going out in shorts and no coat in the dead of winter, and then in the summer would not go outside unless he had his wellington boots and rain-jacket on.

He was told not to play with matches, and, of course, he did, and thought it was great fun to light them and try and throw them in the wastepaper bin in the kitchen. Only thing is, we had wood-panelled walls in the kitchen, which caught fire, and although he put it out quickly, he swore blind it wasn’t him, it was someone else!

What else to say? Niall fished off the pier, he got up to loads of mischief, had a great bunch of friends, many of whom are still friends today. He went to the same schools as me, but as we grew older together the age gap caused separation and different paths in life. We’ve been through a lot together and the older we get, the more alike we are becoming in our personalities, which is quite funny to recognise.

I love him dearly and miss him hugely, and I wonder will he ever come back here to live? That remains to be seen.