Artist Guggi and sons Moses, Noah, Eliah, Caleb and Gideon

Being a father came pretty naturally to Guggi. "I'm the second eldest of 10 children, so I've reared children for most of my life," he explains, although he did get a few years off from the age 17 when he left home, until he was 28 when his first son Moses (21) was born. Then he met Sybille and they went on to have four more boys, which brings its fair share of mayhem. "Five feels like 10 when they are all boys, I'll tell you that right now. They are so present, so loud and they eat so much but, you know, it's brilliant as well."

His eldest Moses has just finished his third year of mechanical engineering – "he's fascinated by the way things work" – and will be going on to attend NCAD to learn about design. Noah (17), whom Guggi describes as "academically gifted" wants to be a professional MMA fighter, which is a mixed martial arts discipline. In fact Moses and Noah are going to a fight school in Thailand this summer for a month where they'll start their days with a 10km run. Both boys are "fitness fanatics" says Guggi. The three youngest boys are showing an interest in art like their father but tend to paint and draw a little less since they got into computer games. "I think it kills their imagination and creativity," he says.

Whatever he thinks about the PlayStation, Guggi wants to let his kids choose their own path in life. "If someone wants to be great at what they do, even if it's not what I might pick for them, I will absolutely encourage them because I felt a slight lack of encouragement from some quarters when I was a kid and wanted to be an artist, but luckily I did get encouragement from some people." He refers to his mother "as incredible" and his father as an "old-fashioned disciplinarian" who, you get the impression, he doesn't try to emulate as a parent. "I tried to take the good things and correct the bad things but no doubt I'll make my own mistakes and I won't even know that I'm making most of them," he says.

He's not a particularly strict dad. "I try to sell them the idea rather than instruct them and you have to remember that you don't own your kids – people tend to forget that," he offers.

But what do the kids think of their easygoing dad? Moses insists that Guggi was a little stricter with him than the younger ones and seven-year-old Gideon pipes up with the comment, "Actually, he's quite moany some mornings", which sends everybody into squeals of laughter. Eliah (14) explains the relationship with his dad isn't like a cheesy movie, "where the kid goes to the park with his dad to play a bit of ball, that's not really my bag, but we're going to the UFC together", referring to a mixed martial arts championship.

So what's great about their dad? "He takes me down to Centra," says Gideon – cue more background laughter. For Moses and Noah it's that he can take a good slagging. For Caleb (12) it's the fact that he cooks a good fry on a Sunday mornings but also it's that "he really likes the movie Mamma Mia – be sure to put that in", says Caleb, as they all crack themselves up. Just as well Guggi can take a slagging.

Boxing coach Jason Bonney and son Craig

"I think our relationship is a bit different when we're in the gym than it is when we are at home," says Jason, who is his son's boxing coach at Trinity Boys boxing club. "It's a tough discipline, so he knows I have to prepare him so well in the gym," he explains. Boxing can also be quite solitary after the big fight so the support of a father or a great coach is integral to the sport. "It's very hard for any child if they lose and even if they win, they need someone in the dressingroom afterwards, and that's when I think our relationship really comes into its own," he says.

Jason and his wife also have a daughter and a foster son. "At the moment Johnny lives with us four days a week and he'll be coming to live with us full-time in August," he says.

Craig (12) has been boxing for three years. "I started when I was nine. I needed to lose a bit of weight at first because I was a bit fat and would get hurt with the boxing, so I lost the weight and started boxing. Then a while after that I joined my dad's club," says Craig. There are three generations of boxers in the Bonney family: Jason's father, Jason, now Craig and even Johnny is starting to box as well. "People said I was very good but I wasn't as good as Craig," admits Jason. This announcement visibly thrills Craig as he breaks into a broad grin. Although Jason's pride in his son's talent is very obvious, he doesn't like to sound like he's bragging, so he adds, "I'm not gloating, which I hate, it's just that I know Craig's a special boxer and people tend to ask me about him first and then the club."

Training Craig and the other lads at the boxing club is a huge commitment for Jason. "I give a minimum of 20 hours a week to it," he says. But he believes that more parents should get their children involved in sport. "It's been proven that it curbs crime and drink and drugs and that kind of thing but some people don't want to get out of bed on a Saturday morning to take their kids to a club," says Jason. Craig certainly seems to approve of the early mornings and late evenings at the gym with his father: "He's a cool dad and we're really good mates; he explains that I have to look after myself and I always listen to my dad."

"Craig and myself have a very close bond alright. He calls me dada and I call him sonner," says Jason.

www.trinityboysboxing.com

Assistant ceo of Foróige John Cahill and his son Ben

I'm not a totally traditional dad in that I'm not very sporty," says John on being a father to Ben (13). Instead their common ground is music. "I've played the guitar since I was young and Ben started playing the guitar seven year ago, so music is a real thing for us. We share it, we talk about it and we slag it off together," he says. "Yeah," agrees Ben, "we also watch programmes like Heroes and Lost together and sometimes Torchwood."

This insight from Ben provokes a quick answer from his dad. "But you're not allowed to watch Torchwood," scolds John. To which Ben replies, "Oh well", and the two of them explode into a fit of giggles, which is fairly typical of their relationship. "He'll just start laughing and then I start and we just can't stop," says John, while struggling to contain the giggles.

Ben has three other siblings, two sisters and one brother and they're all very close. "We would all spend a lot of time together as a family," says John.

John's own relationship with his father was a good one. He is the only boy among seven sisters and was used to getting called upon to help his dad with DIY jobs around the house. A time which he looks back on fondly. "We used to spend a couple of hours together fixing the roof or whatever. Our relationship got better as I got older and I would definitely draw from it with my kids because the relationship with your children is one of the most, if not the most, important things in life," he explains.

At present Ben is anxious to join Bebo but John and his wife Joan aren't too keen and it's described as being "at the discussion stage". Ben's long hair is another source of contention. "He decided he'd let it grow when he was 10 and we let him go with it but it's always in discussion," says John.

Girls aren't really on the agenda yet. Ben explains that he has plenty of friends who are girls but that's it and he seems more interested in his guitar for now. "I do think it's very important for girls and boys to mix. I'd be in support of co-ed and I'd totally trust him to form appropriate relationships as he grows up and when the time is right," says John.

For now however, the biggest thing to decide on is which concert to attend this summer. John had hoped for Bowie because he's a "Bowie fanatic" but that's not going to happen, so it may have to be Coldplay instead. Ben thinks his dad is pretty cool. "Not in a sports way, but in a musical and humorous way and I can talk to him about problems. But, you know, I'm lucky. I don't have many problems," he says with a grin.

Restaurateur Kevin Macken and his son Joe

Sunday lunch was the hub of family life in the Macken household. "It was always a big occasion," says Kevin. "It involved sitting around the table for a few hours bantering and chatting."

"Yeah it was an institution," says Joe (30). With one brother and one sister, Joe has always been close to his siblings. "When we were kids we always did stuff together. We actually went to boarding school during the week, so that was probably why Sunday became such a big thing," he explains. These days the opportunities are rarer for all of the family to eat together, but this Father's Day is being spent in London. "We're going over to visit my brother and we've organised a Sunday lunch in his house to catch up," says Joe.

It's no coincidence that relationships in the Macken family revolve around food, given Joe and his dad Kevin run the hugely popular Jo'Burger restaurant with branches in Rathmines and Blackrock, Dublin.

However, Joe says that their relationship doesn't suffer as a result of working together. "It's normal. It's what we do every day. We work together, we have a good family life together and we sometimes socialise together." Kevin agrees: "We meet every day and speak on the phone. Then we'll have a meeting once a week to discuss business."

The troublesome teen years weren't a big deal for the Macken kids, who seemed to be fairly well behaved. "He wasn't a particularly strict father but when he said no to something it was always very
definite, so you just didn't go there again," says Joe.

"I suppose everybody rears their kids in different ways, and we always had the small issues, but our kids went to boarding school so the day-to-day stuff…"

Joe interjects here: "The priests looked after us!" as he roars with laughter, much to his dad's amusement.

Kevin comes from a family of seven and, similar to Joe and himself, he was in business with his father also. "When he died I lost a tremendous confidante," he says solemnly. Then Joe adds that all the Mackens are very similar. "We even walk the same." Kevin nods and notes that they do indeed share many traits including being "similarly disorganised" which causes them both to laugh.

Apart from being self-confessed foodies they also seem to share a serious work ethic, which may have kicked in for Joe a little earlier than most people. "I think Joe started working with me when he was three," says Kevin, half-joking.

With the family hotel in Slane, working in the family business was part and parcel of life for the three kids. "I was literally down in the kitchen with my teddy bear in hand," says Joe with a massive Macken guffaw.

Radio show host Adrian Kennedy and his son Seán

Chatting comes very naturally to Adrian Kennedy and his son Seán (15). They also love a good slagging, which Adrian admits "must be a Kennedy family trait because my dad's like that as well". But joking aside, Adrian and Seán admit to being very close. "We have a great relationship even though we don't live together anymore," says Adrian, who has been divorced from his kids' mother Jennifer for a couple of years. However his apartment is very close to his former home – "a two-minute cycle away", according to Seán – so Adrian sees Seán and his "little girl Laura" all the time.

"When it comes to the kids, myself and Jennifer get on great," says Adrian. "We don't have any issues over the two of them, we communicate very well, we jointly parent and we always have done since we split up. So when we got divorced it made no difference to their lives at all." In fact, the three of them are looking forward to an upcoming holiday in Portugal. "I see them almost as much as their mum does," adds Adrian.

Seán, it seems, is a model teenager. "He does his best at school, he doesn't get into trouble, he doesn't smoke, he's never come in drunk. We've never had any major issues to deal with. To tell you the truth, he's a great young fella!" Adrian announces with a jokey climax to all the praise.

Although Seán has recently finished a transition-year work placement at FM104, Adrian's not so keen on Seán following him into radio fulltime. "Anything but radio. It's such a tough business and takes so long to make a half-decent wage out of it," he says. Adrian's been working in radio since he was Seán's age so he knows the pitfalls only too well. "I've never done anything else and it's been a long hard struggle to get to where I am – but touch wood, the show is doing great."

He needn't worry too much. Seán's favourite subject in school is business and he recently organised a teenage disco in Bray with his friend, so he seems to be quite the entrepreneur. When it comes to girlfriends, Seán doesn't give much away. "We talk about girlfriends but he doesn't tell me everything. He likes to keep some things to himself," says Adrian.

So what about Father's Day with the Kennedys? "Well I'm still waiting for last year's Father's Day present, so we'll probably mark it by getting last year's present," says Adrian.

But the last word goes to Seán. "I'm going to have to get my sister Laura to buy the present. She's only 12 but is so good at saving that she has more money than God," he says.