X FACTOR presenter Dermot O’Leary has shared a touching tribute to his parents who are moving back to Ireland after 49 years living in Britain.
O’Leary took to Instagram to post a picture of mam and dad Sean and Marie outside their British home as they prepare to move back to their native Wexford.
Dermot, who is famously proud of his Irish roots, was clearly emotional as mammy and daddy O’Leary made the big move.
He wrote alongside the snaps: "Squeezed in a last visit and supper to O'Leary HQ before Mam and Dad take the trip back to Wexford. They've loved it here.”
“Since they've moved in '68 the people have been nothing but kind, welcoming and generous to them in a time when it wasn't easy to be Irish in Britain. But home calls.
"So thanks Maria and Sean, for being brave enough to pack up as kids, leave your homes, loved one and move somewhere no one knows you.
"Here's to all our parents, and what they do for us. Your daughter has a PHD, your son… well he talks out loud for a living, but let's gloss over that.”
He added: “Est 1968, with a final supper of home grown potatoes, obvs, and one last wistful gaze at those beautiful big Essex/Suffolk skies. Here's to act three. X.”
TV personality Dermot O’Leary and his Wexford born parents Maria and Sean at a recent dinner at the London Irish Centre in Camden. (Picture: Malcolm McNally)Dermot, 44, was born and raised in Colchester, but he and his family returned to Ireland every year for a six week holiday during his youth.
The TV star has previously said one of his happiest memories is being on Curracloe beach with his parents and his sister as a child.
Asked in an interview with the Guardian about his first holiday memory, Dermot replied: "Running away from a basket full of crabs on Carne Pier near Rosslare in south-east Ireland when I was about four or five.
“My parents are from Wexford so we'd go to Ireland for about six weeks a year until I was 11.
“I remember seeing the crab pot, panicking, then running into a VW Beetle and nearly knocking myself out. There's also a beautiful beach called Curracloe, where my mother wants her ashes scattered."
