Nicky Hits The Big 3-0...

Westlife's Nicky Byrne received a wonderful gift for his 30th birthday - a Hello! Magazine deal. Wow! What a way to celebrate your big day – tight security everywhere, PR people stressing around your every move and of course, a team photographers capturing every moment at 8 frames a second... Should have just gone down the pub lad.

Ronan Keating

Your modern day celebrity really has gone off the deep-end and dived into a lucrative pool of cash, control and restricted access. With glossy UK mags buying up their Weddings, their kids' Baptisms, and now even their birthday parties. The day is fast approaching when you average Z-lister won't take a dump without OK! or Hello! in the loo with a cheque-book. Sad.

Ronan Keating, Yvonne Keating

At the weekend Westlife's Nicky Byrne had his 30th Birthday in Grand Hotel out in Malahide. And you guessed it folks, Hello! Magazine bought up the rights to party with a bonus package of a photo shoot his twin babies thrown in for good measure... Clllllassy.

Shane Filan, Gillian Filan

Now that we're getting rather accustomed to getting around the security measures of the British 'Glossies' - we still managed to track down the location of Nicky's party and even get a few frames off of guests at The Grand Hotel (mainly coz some went in the wrong entrance). Westlifers like Shane Filan and his wife Gillian were ushered past windows with bodies in the way to block our camera lenses.

Shane Filan

Needless to say, all our paps could get were lots of scratchy shots of the backs of heads and half-cocked glimpses of celebrity guests. But damn it, we tried folks. Begorrah, we're not gonna let those Brits come over here and steal our jobs and eh, our women. Na-ah. Not on our watch!

Cecelia Ahern

And just to think that Nicky's wife Georgina, the daughter of our former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, would take the Queen's shillin' during this sparse time of recession? Let the Irish paps eat cake! Grrrrr.

David Keoghan

We reckon that celebs have well enough money and can't keep using the old cliché excuse: "the magazine deal took away all organisation hassle from the big day." We're not buying that one anymore...

Ken Doherty, Dave Egan

If Robbie Keane and Claudine Palmer's free-for-all wedding taught us anything, that's a celebrity's special day is a much more classy affair without blacked-out cars, massive umbrellas covering everyone, guests asked to leave mobile phones and cameras at home, and crazy tight security up the wazoo... You need to take it handy lads.

Nicky Byrne Jacket

Guests at Nicky Byrne’s 30th Birthday (that we saw) included: Ronan Keating and wife Yvonne, Shane Filan and wife Gillian, Cecelia Ahern and boyfriend David Keoghan, snooker player Ken Doherty and Lillies Bordello's former owner Dave Egan. Not surprisingly Mint restaurant's celebrity chef Dylan McGrath was off the guest-list as was poor old ShowBiz Ireland. Not bitter much.