Niall Horan has spoken of the challenge of rallying 20 of Ireland’s best-known musicians to make a video urging people to stay apart during the coronavirus crisis.
The One Direction star teamed up with Hozier to encourage people to stick to lockdown restrictions and “unite by staying apart”.
The video includes some of the top names in Irish music, including Dermot Kennedy, The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue, Andrea Corr and Imelda May, who say: “The Irish are known all over the world for being passionate, fun-loving and very patriotic people.
“We may be a small country, but through our culture, our works, our spirit and our resolve we wield a lot of power on the world stage.
We can do this #UniteByStayingApart #InThisTogether pic.twitter.com/3FTAkv9SSq
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) April 28, 2020
“In unnerving times like these, in the face of this pandemic, now is the time we can show the very best of ourselves to each other and the world.
“As we face into this battle, now is the time for us to unite.
“Now is the time to lead by example and show the world what we can do when we pull together.”
It continues: “The better we commit to these measures, the sooner this moment will be another thing we, as a people, have overcome.”
Horan told RTE’s 2FM Breakfast: “I felt like, having had the chat with the Taoiseach and talking about the restrictions he’s put on the country, the concerns of trying to keep people inside and worrying about that letting up a bit and people starting to take their foot off the gas, which is the first thing we can’t do, why don’t I try and go through my contacts of Irish musicians?
The one and only @NiallOfficial joined @eoghanmcdermo on #2FMBREAKFAST yesterday to tell him all about the incredible video he created with the help of @hozier & and the biggest Irish musicians in the world 🇮🇪 We're #inthistogether #UniteByStayingApart pic.twitter.com/V0wvC1NTAN
— RTÉ (@rte) April 29, 2020
“Myself and Hozier wrote up the little speech form the video and chatted back and forth about it and then I went around to all the different Irish singers and musicians and asked them would they film themselves doing this video, we will pile it together, we will put The Streets Have No Name by U2 in the background and try and keep people indoors.”
He added: “It took me a while, it’s quite hard to commandeer 20-odd singers and pull them into a video, but we did it and it’s turned out really good.”