FATHER Ted star Ardal O'Hanlon has spoken of how the dark undercurrent of the Troubles while growing up in Co Monaghan shaped his career as a performer.
O'Hanlon (57), whose father Rory was a Fianna Fail TD and Ceann Comhairle of the Dail , said he became fascinated with how everyday life in Carrickmacross, just miles from the border, contrasted with the growing violence in the north.
"I was always shocked by this disconnect between the veneer of civilisation...and this kind of darkness that lies beneath the surface," he in an interview for Joe Duffy's Meaning of Life series on RTÉ,
"That people could get on with their lives and yet this was going on up the road, so we kind of normalised it.
"You realise from an early age that life is not cosy and brilliant and warm like it was for me in my family....you don't have to look very far now to see the shocking pockets of poverty, we know now there were forced adoptions...we know now about all the abuse and the violence in homes."
He added: "The reason I was drawn to things like comedy and writing is because you're trying to process all this stuff."
Long before appearing in Derry Girls, he said he was initially nervous about how his breakout role in Father Ted would be received.
"The reviews weren't very kind at first in Ireland. People were just a bit self conscious about the way Ireland was represented in England, as we always are."
While the church was "ripe for satire" at the time, he said: "I've always maintained that show did humanise the church at a time when the church was being demonised.
"So I think we were doing the church a favour to some extent and that would be born by encounters I've had with priests since (who) really liked the show."
He recalls some embarrassment in his teenage years about his father government minister.
"It wasn't the coolest thing in the world to have a father in a conservative political party," he said.
"So I was beginning to drift away from the politics that my family had and they held dear."
Despite holding deeply conservative views, he said his father became more open minded about difficult issues like abortion.
"He (put it) quite well. He more or less said 'I'm anti-abortion, but I'm pro-choice'.
"Which is a uniquely Irish gift that we can hold two competing thoughts in our heads at the same time," he said.
"The vast majority of people are anti-abortion, but an awful lot of people are pro-choice.
"As you go through life you do learn to walk in other people's shoes. And I've certainly become more tolerant as I've got older.
"I don't know what people are going through in their lives for the most part so you have to give them space, you have to respect their decisions."
The interview is broadcast in full on RTÉ One tomorrow night at 10.30pm.
