Either way, John Waters is "quietly confident" that this year Ireland could be on to a winner with his Eurovision entry, 'They Can't Stop the Spring'.

Its lyrics . . . including such uplifting couplets as 'They might scare the blackbird / But they can't stop him sing/ They may steal the honey / But they'll never steal the sting' . . . are a far cry from Waters' usual mode of writing.

When the Irish Times columnist is not waxing lyrical about the dangers of aggressive secularism (the "most dangerous trend in modern societies"), he is laying into the "poisonous propaganda" spread by Women's Aid regarding his campaign to prove that men are just as much victims of domestic violence as women.

In fact, the only time the Irish public is exposed to Waters' soft side is when he writes about his daughter, Roisin, whom he had with singer Sinead O'Connor in 1996. Upon her birth, he proclaimed that she was "unquestionably and objectively speaking, the most beautiful little girl the world has ever seen".

But Waters insists that his foray into mellow music-writing is in fact no such thing. He and co-writer Tommy Moran (a childhood friend) have written many songs together, two of which they entered for the Eurovision contest last year.

When their final entry, 'The Words That Never Wear Out', was beaten by Brian Kennedy's 'Every Song is a Cry for Love', Waters didn't even attempt to hide his disappointment and went on the rampage against RTE's selection process.

In success, however, he has been more graceful.

"One mistake we made last year was that we had a rather crude demo, " he said. "What we hadn't realised was that, distinct from the song itself, your demo must be of qualityf this year we were a lot more professional."

If you're getting the impression that Waters is rather serious about this Eurovision lark, you're not wrong.

John Waters passionately wants to win this competition and he sees "no reason why we can't".

"As a kid, I always wanted to represent Ireland in the Eurovision, " he said this weekend, pointing out that while he wasn't a "Euro-anorak", the thought of representing his country in Europe was an honour.

"I'm very proud to be doing it and I'm going to give it our best shot."

Born in 1955 in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, Waters initially worked as a clerical officer with CIE before taking over his father's job as a mailcoach driver.

His first break into journalism came with music magazine Hot Press, with which he kept in contact via a phone box in Castlerea village. His real breakthrough, however, came with his infamous interview with the then opposition party leader, Charles Haughey, in 1984.

In what became the most candid interview ever with 'The Boss', Waters revealed Haughey's hidden depths when the party leader talked unguardedly of "a load of f***ers whose throats I'd cut and push over the nearest cliffs" and his desire to "knock off BMWs".

The interview caused national outrage and was a major coup for Hot Press and Waters. Soon afterwards, Waters moved to editing In Dublin, before starting what would become a long career with Magill.

Here, he became the official voice of rural Ireland and the public was introduced to his thoughts and ideologies. These included his pro-Fianna Fail stance, his support for the Catholic Church and his antipathy to Dublin 4, its residents and their liberal beliefs.

It wasn't until the birth of his daughter in 1996 that Waters developed what some would say became his primary obsession . . . attacks on feminism. It started in 1995, when he wrote a lengthy article about Sinead O'Connor. The couple began a relationship that lasted just two months before the singer became pregnant. They briefly considered marrying before breaking up on bad terms. Both blamed the media pressure that surrounded their relationship, and to this day, Waters detests any press reference to their short-lived romance.

What emerged from it, however, was what became the most important thing in the world to him . . . fatherhood.

Upon Roisin's birth, which he attended in London in March 1996, Waters went into a church and vowed that he would always love his daughter and protect her in every way.

He set about proving this in a rather unusual manner when, in 2002, he successfully took a case against Terry Keane of the Sunday Times which, he claimed, had accused him of being a bad father. Waters was awarded 84,000 and promised to "deal with" anyone else who attacked his relationship with his child.

He also won 37,500 over a piece Eamon Dunphy wrote in the Sunday Independent in 1997. Interestingly, in an interview with Dunphy on RTE radio yesterday, he said of O'Connor and their daughter: "For all the rest of my life, I have to be eternally grateful to Sinead for making this happen, because it was her who made it happen, she came to me, this was a result of her intervention, her will, her wish, her desire and it has transformed my life."

In 2005, he threatened to sue his own paper, the Irish Times, over Kevin Myers infamous "bastards" column. Waters' relationship with the Times has been continuously fraught. In November 2003, he was sacked from the paper when he said on radio that the editor, Geraldine Kennedy, was compromised in her role.

He was reinstated just two days later after he apologised.

Earlier this year, Waters launched an attack on Irish Times journalist-turnedfamily law reporter Carol Coulter, saying she was pressing for children to choose between parents. Coulter hit back saying she had been misrepresented and the pair remain in dispute.

Waters' highlighting of the illtreatment of single fathers by family law courts has raised awareness of a two-tiered system and may have brought the system towards a more sympathetic approach. He has been a vocal supporter of male victims of domestic abuse. Mary T Cleary of the AMEN support group said Waters "always takes the time to help us in every way. But sometimes he needs to take a break from it all, " she added. "A lot of negativity comes his way."

Such negativity includes widespread derision of Waters' attempt to prove statistically that men are just as much victims of domestic abuse as women.

"It is a fact that 1 in 3 victims of domestic abuse are male, but this is a long way from what Women's Aid is saying, " he told the Sunday Tribune in 2005. "Until we can put an end to their lies, propaganda and poisons, nothing can be done to help male victims."

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that people are astonished to hear that the same man has written a song about blackbirds and springtime. "People are surprised to hear that I'm writing songs, in the same way that they were surprised to learn that Ruairi Quinn is a good cartoonist, " said Waters.

This, he believes, is down to the tendency of the Irish media to "impose rigidity on ourselves". But he points to the author Mary Wesley, who didn't start writing until she was seventy. "Perhaps I'll be born again at 69, " he said.

C.V.

Occupation: journalist and songwriter Born: 1955, Castlerea, Co Roscommon In the news: His song 'Can't Stop The Spring' will be performed by Dervish in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki next Saturday