How much sleep do you need?
About seven hours a night. I believe in rest. I think it's an important part of your life.
Do you take much exercise?
A good bit. I'm involved in the physical training of a senior hurling team, the Kilmacud Crokes, and I do a lot of the training with them myself. I aim to run three, four or five miles on a regular basis, about two or three times per week in the evenings and weekends. We've been training two nights a week at 7.30 p.m. since early January. The cold is part of the punishment. I played hurling as a younger man in Tipperary.
Are you an early morning person?
I get up around 7.30 a.m. and get in to work at around 9 a.m.
Are you careful about what you eat?
Yes. I eat a pretty balanced diet. I stay away from fats and junk food. I would never have rashers and sausages for breakfast only about once or twice a year. I'm on muesli in the mornings and I'm a great believer in bananas. I'm a monkey man. I seldom eat anything during the day, except a bit of fruit maybe. I drink tea and water. I eat my main meal around 7 p.m. and I'm not a heavy eater. I eat a variety of foods, some beef, chicken, lamb, fish, lasagne or a stew and vegetables, such as carrots and greens. I've kept my weight exactly the same for over 20 years.
Do you drink or smoke too much?
Never drank or smoked. Couldn't afford it.
Are there any foods you can't bear to eat?
Cheese.
Have you ever been in hospital?
Once only, following a car accident for a few days 24 years ago.
Does your job make you stressed?
Not a bit.
Not even the hostage situation earlier this year?
There may be some amount of stress involved in a once off like that, but I wouldn't have lost any sleep afterwards and it had no effect on me. Consciously, I don't suffer from stress. I strongly believe that it is part of discipline and conditioning.
A job like this is bound to have its ups and downs and if you allow yourself to worry about it you end up stressed very quickly. My attitude is, when you go out the gate you forget about it and I do that very successfully. If you couldn't, you'd have to take another look at the whole thing. I believe that the physical and the mental are linked. Mentally you feel better as a result of exercise. I'm not a health freak, but I'd be conscious of, a reasonable diet and exercise and it works for me.