Proposal atop the castle!

By Simon O'Duffy

AFTER climbing the 101 steps to the top of Nenagh Castle, Dublin man Ciarán Doyle took one big step further when he asked his partner Pamela to marry him.

The couple visited the castle last Saturday week while on a weekend stay at the Abbey Court Hotel with their children, Jack and Jade. Castle guide Kevin Whelan took their photograph after the happy moment, and followed it up with a call to the Joe Duffy show on RTÉ radio. He told the story on the Thursday show, and Pamela phoned in to complete the picture.

The couple had no particular reason to come to Nenagh, other than that they’d been told it was “a nice spot”. Pamela said they’d been looking for a family weekend away at a good hotel within easy reach of Dublin.

She told the radio show that the family decided to visit Nenagh’s iconic keep on Saturday morning. They were enjoying the views from the top and taking photographs when Ciarán proposed. “I just turned around and there he was on one knee with the ring!”

The ring fit perfectly - Ciarán, who presently works for Vantastic, used to be a jeweller. Pamela, who now works at an office, said the couple had been together for 15 years after meeting on a Nitelink bus in Dublin.

The Abbey Court contacted the show to extend congratulations to the newly-engaged couple, and to invite them for an overnight stay at the hotel with dinner, spa treatment and an appointment at the hotel’s hairdressing salon.

And they may well decide to stay at the hotel again over the long weekend in March, as Mr Whelan informed the show of a Tipperary Co Council invitation for the Doyle family to attend the St Patrick’s Day festival taking place in the courthouse grounds.

Though not the first couple to get engaged on top of the castle - which has been used as the setting for many wedding day photographs over the years - Pamela and Ciarán’s story will certainly be one of the more memorable ones.

And, while they may not be able to get married in the castle, Dublin Bus have offered them the Nitelink service to bring them to their future wedding venue!