[10][11] His work in Irish includes the novel Makaronik [12] (2018), the on-line drama series Comhairleoirí [13] (2011) and Ór agus Mil [14] (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2022).
[16] He was born in London, the eldest child of Irish parents Eddie and Margaret (née Spillane) Duggan.
[17] The family returned to Ireland in 1963 and settled in his parents' home city of Waterford, where he attended local schools.
[citation needed] Soon after graduating, he worked as a volunteer teacher for two years in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, which is the setting of his first novel, The Greening of Larry Mahon.
Following that, he worked as director of a volunteer programme in The Gambia for two years, where he met Diane Traynor, whom he married in 1981.