The home farm: “Our son David is an agricultural contractor and he farms 50ac of the home farm making silage which is then sold during the winter months. ”

My work: “I am the rector in the Arva group of parishes, with churches in Gowna and Arva in Co Cavan, Carrigallen in Co Leitrim and Colmbkille in Co Longford.”

Family: “I am married to Barrie and we have two children, David and Ruth, and six grandchildren.”

Brexit: “Living a mile from the border, we are very aware of the challenges that farmers in particular will face with Brexit. It’s the not knowing that is especially difficult. It’s very hard to make plans when you don’t know how your business will be affected in a few weeks’ time.”

A busy time: “Christmas is a really busy time but I’m lucky I have a great team of parish readers who help out a lot. I am also lucky to have great family support. I’ll have two services on Christmas Eve and two services on Christmas morning.“

COVID-19 impact: “It’s changed everything. During lockdown, we moved to online services and we had to get very good at technology very quickly. Funerals have been the hardest of all. People get great strength from the community rallying around when we lose a loved one and COVID-19 has made that very difficult.”

Most looking forward to: Having Christmas dinner with our family and taking it easy for a few days after Christmas to enjoy the Christmas message and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.”

Drive-through carols: “With no singing allowed in churches, the parishioners came up with the idea of a drive-through carol service at Carrigallen Mart last Sunday. People tuned into our own radio frequency on their car radios and sang in their cars. We raised €670 which will be donated to the Simon Community and Sleep Out Cavan.”

Quotable quote: “Check in on your neighbours. It’s really important this year, more than any other. Christmas is a lovely time but it can be very lonely, especially for people who lost loved ones or don’t have family around this Christmas. Lift the phone, WhatsApp, anything, just make the contact.”