After a hectic summer, that involved getting married, moving home and holidaying with the family, Claire Byrne is ready for another busy season of current affairs on TV and radio.
The broadcaster talks to Janice Butler about keeping her kids and career in focus.
She tells all about her recent trip to Brittany with the family and how holidays have changed since having her children.
“Two children under three, it’s not a break at all – we’re not going to go next year,” she laughs. “We were up at 6.30 every morning, they wouldn’t eat anything – they were wearing the bread baskets on their heads when we went out to eat and screaming,” an image many parents will relate to."
Not ones to do things in halves, Claire and Gerry Scollan, who had been together for five years, decided to tie the knot this summer and throw in a house-move at the same time.
“But we were calm enough during it all – when you have two children you feel like you can do anything, because it’s all a blur. Life is just a bit of a blur at the moment. It’s just about survival with two kids: you’re up really early, making sure everyone is fed, go to work, make sure someone is back in time to pick them up. It’s busy, so you might as well throw everything in on top of that and get it done.”
Claire has a successful career with her TV show Claire Byrne Live and radio show Saturday with Claire Byrne. She enjoys her work and can’t wait to get back into the mix of things.
“We came off air in May and we didn’t really want to, we could have gone for another few weeks. There’s a notion that things quiet down in this country at the start of the summer but they didn’t this year. So I’m itching to get back.”
Claire says that one of the most important lessons she's learned is to say ‘No’.
“It’s a really important lesson to learn. You can’t be expected to do everything and I’ve become quite ruthless with that since the children have come along and family is the priority.”
You can read the full interview in this week's RTÉ Guide which is on stands now!
