Dell worker tried to get TV expletives edited out

A LIMERICK man who has become something of a celebrity over his frank participation in a fly-on-the-wall RTÉ documentary made about four families affected by the Dell pullout from Limerick, said yesterday he tried unsuccessfully to “tame” some of his comments.

Tommy Kelly, 38, offered expletive-peppered views in the programme, Aftershock – Life after Dell, screened last week.

He had tried, it emerged, to get some of his comments edited out.

Since the programme was screened, he has done numerous radio interviews, including one with Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1.

Tommy said: “I know I did an awful lot of cursing during the show which, if I offended anybody, I apologise for it.

“But people must realise when these guys are coming down filming you, certain things were happening in your life.

“As I pointed out to Adrian, the director, I says ‘can you cut that out’ and he said to me ‘Tommy, if I cut that out that’s taking from you as a person’.

“You have a camera stuck in your face, they are there in your house.

“The more you think about your situation where your whole life has been turned upside down, the more frustrated you get.

“That is possibly why I was cursing and which I am very embarrassed about.

“But at the same time it was reality, it was what was happening at the time and it was the way I felt’.”

He said the TV crew did over 100 hours of filming with him.

“That was then edited down to 10 minutes. People think I was taking the piss, with the language. But they don’t realise what it is like to be out of work with two young children, a mortgage and a car loan to pay,” he added.

Mr Kelly, who lives at Patrickswell with his wife Sorcha and their daughters Abby, three, and Chloe, 18 months worked with Irish Express Cargo, a Dell service supplier and lost his job in December 2008.

When working, his big treat was travelling to Old Trafford.

He said: “I have been following Man United since I was seven. I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to go to Old Trafford again. I even had to get rid of Sky Sports as the budget is that tight. When I want to watch United I now go to my mother-in-law’s. I can’t afford to go to a pub to watch them.

“I have done three interviews for jobs, but nothing came of them.”