A Dublin family have been searching for their Donegal relative for twenty years.
Dublin woman Xenia Nealon got in touch with Donegal Daily in the hopes that one of our readers can help reunite her family.
After Xenia’s grandfather’s death, the family was told that a Donegal woman had been pregnant with his child, and she is now hoping to get in touch with her half-uncle from Donegal.
Xenia explained that her dad, Joseph Nealon Junior, once mentioned having a half-brother.
“This came a great shock but I was intrigued to look into it.”
The family did not know the lady her grandfather, Joseph Nealon Senior, was dating as they did not see a lot of their grandfather at this time.
Her grandfather was only in his 50s when he passed away outside the Cat and Cage pub in Drumcondra in 1995. He lived on Mountjoy Square, whereas the lady he was seeing had been living in Drumcondra.
“I spent a lot of time with him when I was a child and I have fond memories.
“He was dating a lady when he died, we didn’t see a lot of him around that time so we did not know her, she attended the funeral as a stranger to most and my dad found out after his death that the lady was pregnant.”
Her father told her that they used to drink around Dorset Street. The lady was a similar age to Xenia’s father, so she would be approximately in her early sixties today.
Xenia believes it is a relative called David Walsh, who sadly is no longer with them, that told her father that the lady had been from Donegal and had moved back to her home county following her boyfriend’s death.
Joseph Nealon Senior (left) with a friend.
They believe the baby boy would have been born around 1995 or 1996.
Xenia says that her father and his siblings; Keith, Loraine, and Colette, have been hesitant to find their half-brother as they did not know how to go about it.
However by not trying to get in touch, this is something that the family would regret.
“I gave them the nudge they needed and also he is an adult now, so he may want to know his history.”
Without the Donegal woman’s surname or name, the family have struck a dead end.
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