Co-host on Ireland AM, Muireann O'Connell talks to Elle Gordon about not having a big master plan, why it’s essential to find the fun in what you do and using our time for what’s important.
Television presenter Muireann O’Connell arrives at Dublin’s Westbury Hotel straight from the Ireland AM studio, which she co-presents with Tommy Bowe and Alan Hughes.
Before we dive into her life today, I wonder if she feels that growing up in Limerick played a big part in shaping Muireann O’Connell, media personality.
"I am the baby of the family," she says, "and an accident, which I think is well documented! Being the baby of the family gives you a ridiculous amount of freedom. First, you have got all your older siblings [Muireann has three], who are minding you, and then if there’s a big age gap between you and your siblings, you literally have your parents wondering, 'Oh, my God, what are you doing here?’
"There is such a sense of freedom. You are treated as a bit more of a grown-up at an early age because you are included in things. You are allowed to stay up later. My parents were tired by the time I came along, so they were like ‘We are done…you are going to roll in with the rest of us.’ That was lovely: I got away with murder!"
Did she always want to work in television? "I suppose there was no plan. I was asked recently what my routine is for the mornings and there is no routine. I haven’t got my life together enough. An awful lot of people would think, ‘How the hell does someone her age, with a great job, who has been very lucky, and who has continually worked her whole life, not own a house or have a mortgage?’ I am just very bad at planning and knowing what is coming ahead.
"The thing is, it’s not just stuff falling into your lap. I think it is about working very hard at whatever opportunity you have. When I worked as a toilet attendant (as a student), I was the best toilet attendant. When girls were trapped in those toilets I was climbing over, in there, to help them get out. I was holding back girls’ hair while they were sick, on the floor that I was going to have to clean up later. But the thing is, you just have to go for it whatever you are working at.
"There are days when you are not your best self, but whatever job you have you have got to work hard at it, but also find the fun in it. The one thing I would say is wherever I have worked I have always had fun. From nightclubs to shoe shops, working in a play centre or working the deli counter in my local shop, you have got to find people who are good fun to work with, and then you will work hard."
Muireann has certainly found the fun with her co-presenters Alan and Tommy. They have a great rapport on the show. "It is so lovely. Before, I was working on The Six O’Clock Show and I wouldn’t see them. I would only see Alan if he was on The Six O’Clock Show or at work events. I didn’t really know him at all. Himself and Tommy have just been revelations. Tommy is relatively new to TV, like me. He has been there a year longer than I have, but my God, he has taken to it.
"He is someone that loves a routine. He is a professional sports person, always on time. So, he keeps me in order, but he likes to have fun too. So, it is an utter joy to be around that.
"And then there’s Alan. I am mad about that man. The three of us have to do a promo after the show each day and once it hits 10 o’clock, getting that promo done can some days take us 15 minutes because we just keep laughing."
Muireann says she has always been a bit of a night owl; probably not ideal for a breakfast TV presenter. "I was never a morning person. I hate the mornings. There were days when friends would call in to my house during school and say to Mam, ‘How are you Marie, is Muireann around?’ and Mam would say, ‘Sure, she is in school.’ Next thing I would come downstairs from the attic, having slept ’til 1pm. So, I have always been a night-owl.
"Everyone who backed me for this job was like, ‘Is she going to actually wake up?’ But thankfully, that hasn’t happened. I want to go to work every day so it’s great. At the weekend, I will sleep all day. It is important to remember that I don’t have children. There is so much freedom, the independence is amazing. I was dropping my 17-year-old niece out to something in Marlay Park recently and I was stressed to the gills worrying. Being a parent is stressful, so I don’t have that to think about."
Muireann has always been open about doing life her way. "It is weird. I guess a lot of people will say life can kind of pass you by, and maybe that has happened to me, because I haven’t done some of the bigger things in one sense and that is something that I think about an awful lot. But it is just the way it has worked out. It is an interesting discussion because we are living in a world where there is more choice. Not everyone has to have babies if they don’t want to, and that pressure is probably going away.
"I suppose I did feel it when I was younger, but I don’t any more. I think it is weird that people continue to ask this. But you just don’t know what is going on in someone’s life I think that is the thing to remember. Each to their own, and leave them alone."
Great advice, especially as there can be such scrutiny of people working in the public eye. Muireann reckons she learned this attitude from her father. "My Dad wouldn’t have been very pass-remarkable. That wasn’t his bag. He just loved being around people.
"Then I have learned from Tommy and his psychology as a professional sportsperson. So, I could be sitting there destroyed, overthinking something, reading a horrible message on social media or whatever and he will just say, ‘Next play, move on.’ It is brilliant. It is one of the best pieces of advice I have been given. It will happen again, next play, move on."
Speaking of her father, who passed away in 2021, has that loss taught her anything? "I think it is really that we are here for a short time," she responds.
"Have craic along the way. Honestly, getting tied up in issues, or culture wars; I don’t get it. Each to their own. Live and let live because when we are gone, we are gone. It is something that I have learned. It has also taught me is the importance of a sense of community because I guess I have always felt quite transient, especially since I have been in Dublin, because I have always been in rented accommodation.
"Not settling anywhere or being part of a GAA club or whatever. That is one thing that I would like to change: my Dad was a big community man. So that is something I would like to rectify in my own life. How grounded he was, the love he had for people and community… and that we are not here for a long time."
