The Boynes are back in town!

It’s not often that brothers Leo, Christopher and Hugh Boyne get to breathe Mullingar air these days, and even rarer for the trio to get the chance to do so together.

That’s because Hugh lives in London, and the other two live even further away, in New York. Last week, however, the three flew home to visit their mother, 93-year-old Marie Boyne, who lives still in the family home at Glenview Heights.

Happily, they happened to drop in to The Topic shop on Mount Street at the same time as our reporter.

The brothers didn’t all leave Ireland at the same time, but all left around the 1980s and are well settled in their present locations, and while New York may be a long way from home, Leo and Christopher live just five minutes apart.

There are also three sisters in the family: Pauline Boyne and Evelyn Masterson, who still live in Glenview, and Ann, who lives in London.

Happily, the entire family did get to meet up together last year: "Our mother had her 90th birthday in 2020, but the party never happened because of Covid, so she celebrated her 92nd birthday in The Annebrook last year, and it was a great night and we had a great time," says Leo.