John Duggan

John was born and reared on the banks of the river Shannon in the parish of Killashee, Co. Longford. He attended Killashee and Lanesboro' National Schools and Longford Vocational school.

He got his first job in Magans in Killashee where he worked in a Bar/Grocery/Hardware/Sub Post Office from 1950 to 1954. He has always maintained that it was in Magans that he received the main part of his education. All human life was there. It was while working in Magans that he discovered he had a talent for writing and wrote a humorous song called “The Fair of Killashee” which was published in the Longford Leader.

In 1954 he joined An Garda Siochana, where he served in the Dublin Metropolitan area and later at Carlow town and Glenamaddy in North East Galway, where he retired in 1986. Over the years he has written numerous successful songs, especially for Brendan Shine, who recorded about 15 of his compositions. His most notable compositions are “The Rose of Castlerea”, “The Old Threshing Mill” (Foster and Allen), “Golden Dreams” and “The Roads of Kildare” (Daniel O'Donnell). For many years he played the pub circuit in the west as a member of the John & Seamus band.

In 1986 he retired from the Garda Siochana and was invited by Paul Claffey to join Midwest Radio. His new career in radio was very successful and he broadcast six programmes each week for sixteen years. At the end of 2002 he retired and spent a year and a half working voluntary with people with intellectual disabilities in L'Arche Dublin. For most of his life he has involved himself in voluntary social work and holds a Diploma in Social Science from N.U.I.G.

You can listen to John every Sunday morning from 6.30am - 9am.
Click here to contact John Or you may call our request line on 0818 300055