The Irish Sunday People June 5th

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IRISH pop star Ronan Keating has revealed his family are so important to him he would give up his career for them.

The singer, who finishes his gruelling 420-mile walk of Ireland tomorrow in aid of the Marie Keating Cancer Foundation also says he insists that his wife Yvonne is the first person to hear all his new songs.

The former Boyzone frontman said: ''My family is the most important thing in my life.

''Myself and Yvonne are very happy people blessed with two beautiful healthy children, Jack and Marie who make it all feel very real and we feel very lucky.

''Yvonne is expecting our third child in September and I'm really excited about it. It's been four years since we've had a child."We had one and we thought we're going to have five, then we got to two and thought 'that is it'.

"Two is like having four and then all of a sudden they grow up and there's no minding them any more, they become little human beings. They get up when they want and watch TV. They do so much for themselves."

"My wife, children and family are my biggest inspiration and I'd do anything for them."

"I worry a lot about them - we live in a very volatile time when war is all around us. It's everywhere and you can see it and feel it in the air - of course I worry about things like, 'will I get home to my kids?' when I'm travelling."

''I want to do everything I can to protect my children from the world. Of course I worry about them constantly."

"It just happens as soon as you become a parent. I'd give it all up for them if I had to.''

Ronan says life has never been better.

Recently he has refused to allow his children to be photographed and says he won't be repeating the mistake of appearing in a celebrity magazine.

He added: ''Luckily the kids don't understand the celebrity that comes with what I do and I don't push it on them. I try to keep them away from all that and I don't do the whole photoshoots with them and stuff. It's important the kids have their own privacy - I think there should be a law about it."

"As a parent I have a duty to protect my children until they are at an age when they can protect themselves and that's what I'm trying to do as best I can.

''Of course getting photographed isn't something other parents have to think of but in my profession I have to. I think sometimes parents in my shoes are too quick to put their kids' faces in the Press."

''I made a mistake when Jack was born, I did OK! magazine but luckily he was a baby and doesn't look anything like he does now."

"I finished the shoot and got well paid for it and I felt really bad about it. I felt that I had let him down and that really hurt me. I'd never do anything like that again.''

Career-wise Ronan is writing his next solo album and says he's even been doing a little writing while walking across the country. But, he adds, the one person whose opinion counts most is Yvonne's.

He said: ''I spent a month with Greg Alexander in Dublin and I have to say I've written the best stuff I've ever done with Greg.

"I'm in a better frame of mind than I've ever been in - with my family, my career and what we're doing on this walk."

Ronan will be arriving at the Old Head in Kinsale tomorrow to finish his walk.

l You can donate EURO to Ronan by texting WALK05 to 57786 from the Republic (Northern Ireland, send pounds 1.50 by WALK05 to 80786). See www.mariekeating.com

Thanks to Regina!