The next step is that you take a breath and say you can't believe this has happened to you. Young Irish people still possess a niceness and beguiling innocence far rarer this side of the water. When Westlife tell me how perfect their lives are, call me old fashioned, but I almost believe them.
On the day I met them all, Mark Feehily, aged 19, had slept with excitement at being about to meet his idol Mariah Carey. Kian Egan, also 19, was anxious that a minor accident had left a mark on his face which would show in he photographs. Black-haired Shane Filan, aged 20, was nostalgic for his horses back in Sligo. The previous evening they had been to the Horse Of The Year Show at Wembley Arena. They were still chuffed that Jeremy Beadle, Chris Evans and Susan George had come up to them and said hello.
But it is Nicky Byrne, the oldest member at 21, and Bryan McFadden, 19, who seem to exemplify the emotional dilemmas inherent in their new lifestyle. Nicky is in a long-term relationship with Georgina Ahern, daughter of Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. Bryan is still adjusting to the fact that girls find him attractive. In his short time in the band, Bryan, a still-growing, strapping lad, has grown two inches, taking him to 6ft 2in. He'd never kissed a girl till he was 17. He's only 19 now, and has been linked to Miss World. Untrue, he assures me, though he hopes all those boys at school who said no girl could ever fancy him heard it. He has just had a two-week fling with Lene Nystrom, a temptress with tattoos and body piercings who sings with the Scandinavian group Aqua - the band who had a huge hit with the song “Barbie Girl”. Bryan was embarrassed and not sure how to handle talking about this. Further quizzing revealed he had decided to end their fling, only he hadn't told her yet. I suggest it must be a strange feeling from being a no- hoper with the girls to dating a feisty pop star. He corrects dating. 'And dumping.' Was it that he found her disappointing and normal? 'She's not normal. I don't want to talk about it.'
Bryan's upbringing was far from normal. He had always wanted to be a performer and from the age of six appeared professionally in plays and pantomimes When he was 16 he played a bully in the TV series Finbar's Class, an Irish version of Grange Hill. 'It was a bit of an irony. I always got bullied at school at the time and I was the bully on camera.' He was bullied because he was fat, suffering taunts like Fat Boy and Chunk. He never fought back physically, learning instead to lash out with his tongue and praying for God's help. 'I used to always say, "Please, look down on me and bless me and tomorrow let me wake up and feel normal."' God answered his prayers. 'From being an overweight child, when I could never even pull a girl, to being in a pop group and having thousands of girls screaming for me - He's definitely blessed me. I've obviously done something right for God.'
In many ways Bryan typifies the new Ireland with its increasing affluence and the loosening grip of the Catholic Church. His parents come from families of 14 and 12 brothers and sisters. Bryan has only one sibling, a sister. He still considers himself very religious, praying every night and attending Mass when home. But that doesn't stop him from sleeping with girls. 'People get the wrong ideas of Irish Catholics. They think they are set in their ways. We're in the Nineties. I don't think any Catholics follow the church.'
A couple of years ago, Bryan's weight started falling away. He was physically active every day, either at stage school learning to sing and dance, at hip hop classes, and playing Gaelic football. It was only when he was in the band that he realised he might be attractive. 'Suddenly the girls were starting to scream for me, so that's when I thought, "Hold on a second, I can't be as bad as I used to be."' Keep to move out of acting and into the world of pop, he formed his own boy band, Cartel, who were starting to have local success. He sent a tape to Louis Walsh, manager of Boyzone, who is to Irish pop what Jackie Charlton was to Irish football. Walsh invited him to audition for a new boy band, he was forming and co - managing with Boyzone's singer, Ronan Keating. Bryan is still coming to terms with the adjustment in his fortunes and lifestyle. Take That were famously forced to lead a very restrictive lifestyle and not allowed girlfriends, one of the causes of their implosion after Robbie Williams left.
Westlife's management has learnt that lesson. 'We're normal blokes. We like to have a few drinks and have a good laugh,' says Bryan. 'We're not going to lie to the fans and tell them we don't have girlfriends and that we don't drink. They have shown us a lot of respect in putting us where we are today in buying our music and supporting us, so we think it would be very disrespectful if we started lying to them.' 'Louis said at the start, "I hope none of you is going to get married and have babies." We said of course we're not. If someone meets someone they love and wants to get married and have kids, they're still free to do that. But we've all agreed among ourselves that it would be stupid at this stage. If you got married now it would affect your career, because you're going to be so focused on your family and your wife. I think it's just a bit silly.'
It might not be the right time for marriage, but Bryan did find himself falling in love for the first time. She was English, neither a pop star nor a model, and they went out for two months. He shrugs, embarrassed, not wishing to say much. He was cut up when it ended, but it was a mutual parting. 'We had to. We didn't get to see each other enough. It was just too hard. It's impossible to hold down a relationship in band. People say if you're going to be in a relationship it should be with someone else in the buisness. I think that's even worse. Two people trying to fit in with each other's schedules is a waste of time. I don't know how Nicky and Georgina do it, because none of the rest of us can hold relationships down. Nicky's very brave. So is Georgina.'
So if Bryan does not want to be lonely or abstinent, are casual relationships the only answer for someone in his position? ' I suppose casual relationships are the only thing we can do at the moment,' he says. Not so for Nicky Byrne and Georgina Ahern. Nicky believes the rest of the band view his relationship longingly. 'I think a lot of the guys in the band do feel a bit jealous of me. If I'm feeling down, I've always got Georgina there for me and she's always got me there for her. You don't realise how important it is until you have it. You actually think, I couldn't live without it, I really couldn't.' They met at school, before he was famous, before Bertie Ahern was Prime Minister, even before Nicky had any idea Georgina's father was a politician.
'She was very quiet at school. I was always having a laugh, charming the teachers. I got one of my friends to ask her out for me - I was 14 or 15 - and she said no. I was quite upset. I left it then for a year. One of the guys then asked her again for me without me knowing and she said yes. That was great.'
Nicky is extremely close to his family. When he's at home he will often sit up until 3 am, having cups of teas with his mum. 'When I started liking Georgina I went home and told me mum I'd found the girl I was going to marry. She laughed at me. Then, about a year later, Georgina was on the news with her dad. It was the budget in Ireland and he was Minister of Finances and standing with the briefcase. Georgina was there with her younger sister Cecilia. I was eating my dinner and said, "Mum, mum, there she is," and my whole family turned around.' Is she the girl he is going to marry? 'Hopefully, please God. But who knows. We've been going together for five years now. So, it's a long time. We're best friends. We've got the closest relationship I think anyone can ever have.'
Georgina is studying business administration and not about to dangle from her boyfriend's arm. 'We're working from 7am till 11pm, really working hard, so it would be unfair to bring Georgina over and for her to miss college. Unfair on both of us.' So does she get jealous of the fans or they of her? 'She's been absolutely phenomenal about all the female attention. At the start I thought she was going to be a little bit wary, but she wasn't at all. She always wanted me to be happy and she knew that above everything this was what I wanted to do.' 'If she's at my house, there could be a knock on the door from fans. Girls from all over the world have travelled to our house to see us and get our autographs. She'd come out and speak to them.'
They haven't moved in together because he's never at home. She still lives with her mother. He would be worried if she was in a house on her own. 'I think we're a bit young, to be honest with you, as well.' He says they will wait until Westlife get to the level of Boyzone, who now spend more time with their families, having been successful all over the world.
Nicky has adjusted to fame and the lifestyle more easily than the rest of the band because of his pre-band experience as a youth international goalkeeper for Ireland. At the age of 16 he was signed to Leeds United and joined their youth team. It was an unhappy period of his life. Desperately homesick on his first night, he spent an hour-and-a-half crying on the phone to his mother, asking why he was there. He's not ashamed to admit he is still a mummy's boy. At Leeds, his height five foot nine-and-a-half, was against him. He received what he maintains was rough treatment. Nicky gelt that an arm around the shoulder and encouragement to have another go would have been the best attitude. Instead, he got abuse and shouting. The purpose-built accomodation in Weatherby, by the training ground, an hour outside Leeds, made him feel isolated and hemmed in by the regimented lifestyle. Eventually, the decision was made for him and he was told, in a world of goalkeepers the likes of Arsenal's David Seaman are well over six feet, that there was no chance for him.
When he was growing up, Nicky had three dreams: to become a footballer, a policeman and a pop star. Back home from Leeds, he sat the exams to join the garda, (the Irish police). Having momentarily tasted the money and lifestyle of international football, it was hard to adjust and return to school homework. Being close to the Prime Minister also meant brushes with the rich, powerful and glamorous. He met Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone at the opening of Planet Hollywood in Dublin, and wanted to be a part of that world. At Leeds, one of his team-mates, taken with his voice, said he should be in Boyzone.
When he heard of the Westlife audition, he practised diligently for a week. 'I'm a careful guy. I don't get off on risks, I'd never touch a drug, I'd never do anything like that because I'd be afraid. It's not the type of person I am. I want to be a successful person. I'm very determined; mentally I hate to lose. I'm a very easy-going person off the field, and I get along with nearly everybody. On the field, if I'm losing I get annoyed. 'Just after Westlife's first single came out in April, Nicky received notification that he had been accepted for training in the Garda. Polite and modest boy that he is, he got his mum to write back saying something else had come up. He was back in the winning team.
