IRISH VISITS:PRIVATE DETAILS of Michael Jackson's search for a property in Ireland reveal the singer was looking for a 1,000-acre estate in Cork in which to raise his family.
He stayed at Blackwater Castle in north Cork in 2006, before returning the following year with a view to purchasing a property.
Castle owner Patrick Nordstrom described Jackson as “a very loving father, the kids adored him”. He said: “He kept a very low profile while he was here. He was very aware that if he went out in public he would be recognised and that would jeopardise this safe haven he had sought out for his kids.”
Jackson spent his time reading, listening to music and playing with his children. “He was just like anyone else, as far as anyone can be, having grown up in that environment,” Mr Nordstrom said.
Auctioneer Dominic Daly assisted Jackson in his search for a home in Ireland in 2007. “He fell in love with one particular period property – there was talk of €50 million for it.” Mr Daly said he arranged additional land which Jackson wanted, but never heard from his people again. “I think there may have been a funding problem,” the auctioneer added.
Des McGahan, owner of Ballinacurra House, Kinsale, where the Jackson family stayed in June 2007, watched Jackson moonwalk on the lawn. “He’d asked for the lights to be left on outside at night. I popped my head through the hedge one night and saw him moonwalking across the lawn,” Mr McGahan said.
He was “not the monster people made him out to be,” he added.
Jackson played concerts in Cork in 1988 and Dublin in 1992 and 1997. Promoter Oliver Barry, who brought the singer to Ireland twice, described him as “very gracious, shy and extremely mannerly”. Mr Barry said stories that Jackson brought a monkey called Bubbles on the tour were “simply a huge publicity stunt”.
In 1992 Jackson visited the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Co Dublin. Eugene Lambert described him as “a charming person but very chronically shy”.
He returned to the theatre in 2007 with his three children to see Jack and the Beanstalk. "They were the most charming little kids, they were so gentle," Mr Lambert said on RTÉ Radio yesterday. "He really loved his kids – you could see the way they responded."
He said there was a complete contrast between the stretch limo in his 1992 visit and the “old banger of a car” in 2007.
Jackson brought his three children on a private visit to Hughes and Hughes in Dún Laoghaire in September 2006. Manager Bert Wright said Jackson was “just a dad taking his kids out for a trip”.