The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has dismissed rumours that he had been struck down with swine flu.
The star revealed that he had been fighting off bronchitis and pneumonia. "Luckily they caught it early," he said.
Shane (51) said: "I've been feeling quite poorly so I'm putting my feet up, but I'm a good bit better now."
He revealed that he felt up to seeing his team Tipperary take on Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final.
"I'm going down on Sunday for the match and I'm very much looking forward to it," he said.
His friends feared that he may have caught swine flu when he first fell ill because of his symptoms, but this did not turn out to be the case.
Meanwhile, employers have been warned to hold fewer face-to-face meetings and to use conference rooms with large tables to reduce the risk of spreading swine flu at work.
Occupational health expert Dr Paul Gueret advised employers that they should also stagger lunch breaks and reduce groups of workers smoking at one time.
Dr Gueret said the measures were needed to cut down on the risks of one person passing the infection to another.
Employers and HR staff were told to plan for a potential rise in the virus around the end of November, and over the following two months, at a seminar yesterday.
The head of health protection in the HSE, Dr Kevin Kelleher, said a person who has the virus may be infectious before they have symptoms.