“We were just beginning to grieve” – Christy Dignam’s daughter responds to Dave Fanning’s comments

Simon Kelly

“I chose not to give people that power.”

Kiera Dignam, daughter of late Aslan frontman Christy Dignam, has responded to the controversial comments made by DJ Dave Fanning after her father’s death last month.

In what Fanning himself has now admitted were “ill-timed” comments, the RTÉ presenter said the singer “blew it royally” when asked to give his perspective on the Dubliner’s life and music career on the Claire Byrne show.

However, Dignam’s only child has said she won’t be giving him “any more airtime”, while the family continues to grieve.

“We were just beginning to grieve,” the 37-year-old told the Irish Independent. “So I hadn’t heard anything about it until people said it to me, and I listened back. I felt a lot of things, but I made a conscious effort to not give him any airtime.

“I think there’s always going to be stuff like that with people’s opinions and I just have to make a decision that I either let things wind me up or I just don’t give people that power.

“And that’s what I chose to do – I chose not to give people that power.

“I have more important things to worry about and deal with at the moment, so I wouldn’t be giving him or anyone else with negative comments any more airtime. We’re just trying to deal with our personal crap.”

Thousands of fans lined the streets of Finglas last month to bid farewell to the musician, who passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Dave Fanning issues apology for controversial Christy Dignam comments

A day after the death of the Aslan frontman, Fanning appeared on Claire Byrne’s radio show saying: “I know this is a time for eulogising but I don’t want to deify the guy either – he [Dignam] blew it royally.

“He would say later on that: ‘Because I was abused at the age of six by a neighbour and there was this hole in my life for ages so I filled it, not by trying to get high with heroin, but just by filling it with heroin to keep myself away from the memory of it.’ And I remember saying to him: ‘Are you sure about that now, Christy? Are you sure you’re not trying to pull the wool over my eyes?’.”

After the DJ received major backlash for his comments, he took to Twitter to issue an apology, saying he “I totally missed the mark” and that what he said was “incredibly ill-timed and [in] poor taste.”