09/09/2026
Part 1 of how it all began Dundalk FM LMFM Dundalk Credit Union Ltd.Dundalk Lions ClubRedeemer Family Resource Centre New Page Redeemer Boys School
No. 109
Part 1 of 2
"I grew up on Beechmount Drive in Cox's Demesne and went to the Redeemer Boys' School.
Back then, Cox's felt like a completely different world. Today, the hill has been regenerated with a park and playground, but growing up, cars were flying around it and getting set on fire. It wasn't a safe place, but to us as kids, it just felt normal. The guards were around all the time, there was always something going on.
Truth be told, I had the best childhood growing up in Cox's and the people on the street were the best of people. Looking back now, I realise maybe it wasn't the easiest environment, but we knew no different. I was the second youngest of seven children. My dad worked in the Ecco, and my mam started at Telecom when I was eleven. Everyone in the area was poor back then, so we all just got up and got on with it. Nobody was better than anyone else.
I served as an altar boy at the Redeemer from first through to sixth class and really enjoyed it. Then, when I was about twelve, I joined the Order of Malta on Mill Street. My mam pushed me into it from an early age, she said I should start training to be a nurse. As a young boy, I wasn't really interested in that, but I went anyway and ended up enjoying it.
When I was just eleven, I started at De La Salle secondary. To be honest, I found it a bit daunting. I considered myself an innocent enough child who mostly stayed in the background. It was a weird mix of country lads and boys from Cox's. An being one of those boys from Cox's, I had to brave up and act a bit harder and street-smart than I really was back then.
It was a good school though and gave me a solid education. Some of the teachers came down hard on me at times, but looking back now, I probably deserved it.
When I left school, I got a job in Horseware, which only lasted a few weeks. I heard there were jobs going in Norbrook in Newry, so I looked into that.
I applied and got the job. I got a lift up and down the first day, but having no car and no bus running at the times my shift was on, I had no choice but to cycle to Newry and back each day. I would start work at six in the evening and finish at six the following morning: a 12-hour shift. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Newry from Dundalk and a little longer on the way back because of the big hill coming out of the town.
After a week of that, even though I was a young man at the time, I knew I couldn't keep it up. I was becoming exhausted, so I left Dundalk and rented a room in Newry, which made things a lot easier.
After a while, I met a girl up there, we got close and I had my first child. After a few years, between one thing and another, the relationship didn't work out. I left Norbrook and Newry and moved back to my family home in Cox's and my son would stay with us every weekend. My mam jokes I came back home with some extra baggage!
I was about twenty-two then. I went back to college in Ó Fiaich and did a Special Needs Assistant course and I got a job with the Children's Disability Team, ironically back in Newry. I worked there for two years and a boy called Seán was in my care. He was only fifteen, coming from Child Services and to this day I still look after him. People say if you see me, you see Seán. He is treated like family in our house to this day.
While working back in Newry, I met my partner Dympna, who was originally from Bessbrook. We’ve been together for twenty-two years now and we have three children.
My week is split between Newry and Dundalk now. Up North, I'm a family support worker, I do 15 hours a week with Seán. He has no short-term memory, so every minute is a brand-new minute for him, but we have the best of craic together and I take him on holidays in Ireland and abroad.
Back in Dundalk, I work as a Special Needs Assistant in the Redeemer, where I first started out working with kids with additional needs. It's a job I really enjoy and get so much out of. In my opinion, it's one of the best schools in the country.
I also worked emptying bins and doing a bit of street sweeping every Sunday for the last ten years, but that contract unfortunately recently came to an end.. It was just to get in a few extra bob so that we could take the kids on holidays."
Aidan Moore
