Published Thursday, 29 October 2009
Filan, 30, who is close friends with fellow Irish boy-band Boyzone, said he was lost for words when he tried to console Ronan Keating at Gately's Dublin funeral.
He said: "I said to Ronan at the funeral 'I just don't know what to say, man. I honestly don't know how you're going to deal with this' and he said he doesn't know either."
He added: "They're just so upset about it at the moment and they will be for a long time.
"They will probably never get over it. It's hard to put into perspective what's happened to them as a band."
Stephen Gately died of natural causes due to a pulmonary oedema on October 10th at his holiday home on the island of Majorca.
Tribute
Filan, who was speaking at the launch of Westlife's new single What About Now, hinted that Boyzone are planning to produce a tribute to Gately once they recover from the shock of his death.
He said: "I don't know where their heads are at, I just know that as a band they definitely want to do something and keep it going. When that will happen I don't know.
"He was such a lovely guy... the lads were always looking after him like a little baby brother."
And Filan is concerned for his manager Louis Walsh, who returned to work last weekend in his role as X Factor judge and mentor.
He said: "Louis is absolutely devastated over the whole thing. Again he kind of shuts things out when they bother him, I think that's what he's doing now going back to work.
"But I think when he goes back home over Christmas time that's when it will really happen. When he's just chilling out for a few weeks on his Christmas holidays, that's when it will hit Louis a lot."