Early Life
Duffy was born in Mountjoy Square, Dublin, and brought up in Ballyfermot. He had four siblings, his father was Jimmy and his mother Mabel, Jimmy died aged 58 in 1984, and had problems with alcohol, Duffy described Jimmy as "a small man, nimble on his feet . . . with a rugged round face, button nose and prominent teeth". Joe's brother Aidan was killed in a road accident on the Maynooth Road in 1991 aged 25, with Joe first learning of the "horrific accident" on the news on RTÉ Radio. Joe's brother Brendan was described by him as "crippled, ruined and wrecked by a savage addiction" to sniffing glue which he developed as a teenager.
Duffy went to Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) in 1977 (to study Social Work) and was elected President of Trinity College Students' Union in 1979, becoming President of the Union of Students in Ireland (U.S.I.) four years later.
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