He was born on May 31, 1976 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the fourth child (there are two sisters, Claudine, his personal assistant, and Catherine, and brother Eamon, Jr.) in the family of professional football player Eamon, who played at the club Shamrock Rovers and had his own packaging company, and his wife, housewife Rita. He was brought up as a Catholic.

When the boy was 10 years old, the family moved to the suburb of Dublin Castleknock. He auditioned for the Boyzone group, when was still unknown, but without success.

In his youth, he was distinguished by a rather obstinate temper - instead of school, he hung around with friends at local bars, smoked marijuana, and stole in stores. At the age of seventeen, he was kicked out of school for fighting with a teacher.