Cork radio presenter Neil Prendeville, who was sacked from 96FM last year following an incident on an Aer Lingus flight, today attributed his actions to problems with alcohol.
Prendeville went on to express gratitude to management at the station for allowing him to return to his radio slot as of next Monday morning.
The DPP has directed there be no prosecution of Prendeville after examining a file from gardaí who investigated a complaint alleging he had performed a lewd act on a Heathrow-Cork flight on October 19th as the aircraft was preparing to leave London.
Speaking on Cork's 96FM today Prendeville said it took him 22 years to build a reputation and "seconds" to damage it. He revealed for the first time today that he had actually lost his job at 96FM arising out of the incident and was not on temporary suspension pending the outcome of the Garda investigation as had been widely believed.
Prendeville, who is the presenter of the most listened to radio show in the country outside of Dublin, told the station's PJ Coogan he hoped the incident wouldn’t define him for the rest of his life. The 49-year-old admitted that in his darkest days he never thought he would have the opportunity to return to the flagship morning show.
He apologised on air to the female Irish Examiner journalist who was sitting next to him on the flight, saying she was "involved in something which was in no way shape or form of her making".
The broadcaster stressed he was regretful of how the incident had impacted on the other passengers on the flight, his family and work colleagues.
"Everyday of my life for the past five months I have asked for forgiveness. I have apologised, and I have said sorry every day for coming crashing in to people's lives uninvited in the manner which I did. I have asked them to accept my apologies," he said.
"I say it again unreservedly that I did cause some form of offence to people on that flight. And it is something I will never forget, and it is something I will never stop apologising and regretting. I have also apologised every day to my family - primarily to my wife and two children."
Mr Prendeville said he had a “privileged” lifestyle which he took for granted.
"I cannot say that I was a very good husband. I can’t say that I was a very good work colleague, I cannot say that I was a very good friend to people because I wasn't any of those things when I look back on it now. I was a crap husband. I was obnoxious. I wasn’t a giver of as much love as I should have been. I have a completely different outlook on life. I think this was inevitable," he said.
"At 49 years of age things are supposed to get easier. But I think the hardest time of my life is ahead of me. I took all of the good things in my life for granted. I ended up living in a parallel universe to other people."
Prendeville paid tribute to his wife, Paula, for her support over the last five months. He told listeners that his wife had always been a strong individual with an optimistic outlook on life.
"She attempted to keep me as positive as she could over the last five months. For 20-odd years my wife has almost been like my producer. Keeping me on the track. Keeping me going forward. Accepting my faults. Accepting my mistakes. I am not sure there are many women who would do that."
The presenter attributed his actions on the flight to drink, saying that he had a given up alcohol arising out of the incident.
"I didn’t drink all that often, but when I did I drank too much. I would in company drink more than others. I was one of those that perhaps drank too fast. I started drinking too much wine. I am not drinking now.
"I am an alcohol abuser if that makes me an alcoholic. I would hate to think that at some stage in my life I couldn't go in to a pub and have a pint. But life is fine without it now. I never used Nurofen Plus as the reason for whatever happened; it was alcohol. It would be naive of me and silly of me to suggest otherwise."
Prendeville said he has been punished enough, and said that "humanity took a backseat" in the tabloid coverage of the allegations and their focus on his family. He said he deserved everything that came his way but took offence at journalists' hounding of his children and his wife.
He was also troubled by reports that depicted himself and his wife as having a "champagne lifestyle" adding that his spouse had worked very hard throughout her life.
Prendeville says the incident will change his style of presenting when he is back on air on Monday.
"Yes I have fallen from grace. I would have covered the [Neil Prendeville] story. I would cover it very differently now to the way I would have covered it five or six months ago. I have certainly had stories in the past that have been difficult for the individuals involved in them, but I have never gone after families. I would hound the individual but not the family."