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*Are you looking forward to Christmas?
It's great to get back to your own country for Christmas. We spend half of our lives in the United States. We did three tours there this year alone, as well as recording one album in London and another in Prague

*What do the Americans think of you?
Well, 40 million of them claim to have Irish heritage so they're very nice to us. Except going through airports where we are treated no better than anybody else, I'm afraid.

 *Who is your audience made up of mainly?
Lately, we've been getting a lot of Hispanic and Asian people. It's a great tribute to Irish music that it can reach people from such different backgrounds. We get quite a few young people who were probably dragged along kicking and screaming by their parents to hear the songs of their forefathers.

*What's your repertoire like?
Everything from an I1th century monastic ballad called Deus Meus to the Stevie Wonder number, My Love. And countless traditional Irish ballads in between.

*You sang for Bill Clinton at State dinner in Dublin .Castle in 1995. What was that like?
Fascinating. He had had along, hard day in Northern Ireland so I was expecting him to get distracted during the 40 minutes I performed for him. But he gave me his undivided attention throughout and was the first up on his feet when I finished. One of the songs I sang was You'll Never Walk Alo= ne, which he had promised the people of Northern Ireland earlier in the day. So afterwards, when I shook his hand, he said with a twinkle in his eye: 'I see you were listening to me.'

*When were you a priest?
I was ordained at the age of 22 but I left when I was 29. I got the seven-year itch. I just didn't have the fire in my belly for it.

*Do you still believe in God?
Absolutely. Now more than ever, since the structuring of the Church is not as rigid as it used to be. I still think that there's great f aith and belief in this country and people need it. If you look at the numbers of people committing suicide or becoming depressed, you will realise how important it is to have an anchor in life.

*You sang for Pope John Paul II on his visit to Ireland in 1979.
Yes, I was a deacon at the time - a child, really - and I read the first Gospel and sang the responses. I love it when journalists abroad ask me what's the largest audience I've ever sung to. Normally the answer for tenors tends to be something like, '20,000 in Mad ison Square Garden'. So 'a million and a quarter people in the Phoenix Park' tends to get their attention!

*You were invited by Montserrat Caballe to sing with her when she came to Ireland in 1993.
Yes. Montserrat is a fantastic woman, a real natural. She sang the duet, Barcelona, with Freddy Mercury so hers isn't a dyed-in-the-wool, strictly classical approach to opera.

*Apart from your interest in opera singers, aren't you a fan of Tina Turner too?
"Oh yes. I saw her only recently on Oprah and I thought, 'wow – that woman is weathering well.' She had the legs going and the thighs going and she's well into her '60s now. She's incredible. So energetic.

*How did you meet your wife, Angela Desmond?
We both attended the Cork School of Music at the same time but that was back when I was a priest and it was a strictly professional relationship then. Her singing class was after mine so she would sit in on my class for the last 10 minutes. She was this incredible looking woman with blonde hair. My teacher was always surprised at how I sang better in the last 10 minutes of the class than the first 50!

*What happened then?
Well, when I left the priesthood, and had just started into my singing career, I bumped into her, on the campus at UCC where she was studying. I asked her out to dinner half-joking, thinking she'd say no. She said yes and we saw each other every day for two I months. We've been married for 14 years and we have two children.

What do you do to relax?
I do a spot of gardening. It's one way to bring everything back to normal. I'm big into Alder trees.

* What's your fondest childhood memory?
Going to the Kinsale Regatta, which is held on the August bank holiday weekend every year since time immemorial. We'd all load up into the car and head off to watch the boats, the water sports, the pillow fighters on the greasy poles.

* What three adjectives would you use to describe yourself?
Enthusiastic, deep-thinking, smiling.

*What's your philosophy on life?
Thinking too much about it is a bad thing. Enjoy your life and do the best you can in terms of the potential you know you have, not the potential people assign to you.