Riding high on the airwaves with her weekend radio show; broadcaster and presenter Bláthnaid Treacy Moon talks to Janice Butler about career highs, the difficulties and joys of motherhood and how getting an ADHD diagnosis last year has changed her life for the better.
It's a sunny spring Monday morning and Bláthnaid Treacy Moon comes bounding into the office full of infectious energy. Stylishly dressed in a trench, jeans and a grey knit, her new bob haircut finishes the mum-of-one's impeccable appearance. She admires our wall of previous covers, of which she’s been on many over her decade-plus time on Irish TV and radio.
The Bray native, who began her career in the spotlight as a child actor on the RTÉ drama Glenroe, has a long portfolio, from travel (Ó Tholg go Tolg on TG4) to youth TV (TwoTube on RTÉ 2) to a clutch of music-related shows, including video reports from Electric Picnic, her weekly, bilingual National Chart Show on RTÉ 2fm and now her hugely successful weekend radio show, which had an impressive bump in the recent JNLR audience ratings.
In 2023, she took on "the hardest but most satisfying job", becoming a mother to baby Nancy, who will be two in the summer. "She’s fabulous, full of chat. She’s in crèche two days a week which is nice; nice for me because it means I can get some stuff done during the week. The first year was a total blur but we’re in a nice rhythm with it now," she smiles when I ask how life is with Nancy.
She says that she and her husband Charlie Moon have found their footing with parenting, acknowledging, as any parent will know, that it takes time.
"When you’re a first-time parent, everything is just upended," she remarks. "You’re looking at the life you had before you had your baby and you’ve to realise that life isn’t there any more. Everything changes and not in a negative way, but you just need to get your head around that. And it’s hard, it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. But everything is a stage and it’s really important to tell people that those stages don’t last forever. One morning you’ll wake up and you’ll have had a full night's sleep," she smiles.
Her weekdays are a time for her and Nancy, with Charlie, a jazz musician, working Monday to Friday as a music teacher. She then goes into work mode at the weekends with her Friday evening chart show on 2FM, followed by her mid-morning show on Saturday and Sunday.
"The weekends are perfect for me, I’ve always worked anti-social hours so I’m used to it," she laughs. "And it works well for family life because Charlie does the nine-to-five during the week while I'm home with Nancy and then he can be around for the weekends. So, I get to be with her loads during the week, which is lovely."
Her work on the airwaves was made all the more satisfying recently when her Weekend with Bláthnaid Treacy show grew its audience by 25,000 listeners year on year, making it the highest-rated show on 2 FM, something she admits that shocked her, in a good way.
"That was such a shock," she laughs. "One of the producers said to me that the show was number one and I thought, 'OK, that’s great, number one at the weekend’ and they were like, no, number one on the station and I couldn’t believe it. It’s good to celebrate those things but it’s a testament to what we’re doing with the show and constantly making sure it’s what the listeners want."
2FM has been through a turbulent year with a lot of big names (Two Johnnies, Jennifer Zamparelli and Donncha O’Callaghan) leaving the station, and some leaving and coming back (Doireann Garrihy), but Bláthnaid remarks that there is a sense of stability now with the new schedule and new names coming on board.
"There’s been so much change but there’s a really nice energy there at the moment. It’s nice now that we have a slate in place, everyone knows what they’re doing and we’ve got new presenters which is lovely because it’s hard to get in the door. I know that myself," she says. "It can be really intimidating but 2FM is a really friendly place. Everyone actually gets on really well; I know the press likes to pit people against each other but it’s not like that."
When I spoke with Bláthnaid last year, it was in her capacity as an ambassador for Pieta House and their Darkness into Light campaign, which will be coming up again shortly. She spoke to me at the time about working on her own mental health since becoming a mother and making positive changes to her lifestyle like cutting back on alcohol and having a healthier diet. "That’s been a really positive change," she says today when we revisit the topic.
"I think the younger generation aren’t drinking as much and I’m noticing with a lot of friends that they’re shifting away from it too. I don’t want to be hungover and feeling crap when I’m with my daughter the next day. You don’t want to have that anxiety that spills into Monday and Tuesday and then you’re waiting on the weekend to do it all again," she adds.
Since last year, she reveals that she’s taken further steps in her journey with her well-being and last summer was diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), which has been life-changing for her.
"Getting the ADHD diagnosis was really eye-opening for me," she says. "I didn’t realise that when you have ADHD, your symptoms explode after you have a baby and that’s what happened to me. I went privately to get my diagnosis, and it just made so much sense once I got it. I think once you can understand yourself and why you’re behaving in a certain way, you can deal with it so much better. It has had a very positive impact on my life getting this diagnosis," she adds.
She tells me that after having baby Nancy, both she and Charlie noticed that she wasn’t coping and that tasks like washing the baby bottles seemed really difficult in her mind. Since her diagnosis, she’s better able to recognise and manage her symptoms.
"For me, when I have a list of things that I have to get through. It’s completely overwhelming, I won’t know where to begin, so I just won’t do them," she explains. "So, I just slow everything down and do one thing at a time. I can be extremely outgoing and loud but then I need to sit quietly which is quite a common trait with ADHD. And I remember that, even as a kid, I’d have bursts of energy and then I’d be extremely tired," Blathnaid adds.
Reflecting on her childhood and teenage years, knowing now that she has ADHD, she recalls school being really difficult for her and it now makes sense. "I’m dyslexic also and that often comes hand in hand with ADHD. I just didn’t understand things in school and I remember thinking ‘Why am I not getting this and everyone else is?’" she reflects.
"I felt inferior in school and at the bottom of the class, and it had such a detrimental effect on my confidence. But then I changed schools from an Irish-speaking school to an English-speaking school nearer my house. It changed everything and had a massive impact on my schoolwork and my confidence in myself. I think if I hadn’t made that change, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now because I wouldn’t have had the confidence."
She’s still a huge advocate for the Irish language, often using it through her work. She has no regrets that part of her schooling was as Gaeilge. "I love Irish and I still use it, so I’ll always be grateful for my time in that school but for me, making the changes when I did, made a big difference."
Never one to rest on her laurels and the success of her radio show, Bláthnaid is delving into a new passion project in the coming months, her first solo podcast, inspired by her own ADHD diagnosis. Called The Tripple Effect, it will feature a well-known guest in each episode and delve into moments in their life that had a ripple effect.
"It’s looking at the ripple effect of things that have happened in your life and how they have affected you and why you are the person you are now because of certain things that happened. I’ve a few people lined up and ready to go, who I’m dying to speak to," she explains excitedly.
"I love what I do on the radio. It’s so much fun, but this will be a little meatier; it’s longer form interviews and more personal. From getting my diagnosis and from listening to podcasts like How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, I wanted to do something that delved a bit deeper with people that you’re seeing on screen or follow online and peeling back a layer with them in a safe space," she adds.
"I don’t think I could have done something like this in my 20s. That’s the thing with getting older; you build up your experience and the things in your 20s that you would have been self-conscious about, that’s kind of gone. I don’t really get embarrassed about things or really care what people think about me, I’m in a really good place at the moment and it’s important to celebrate that."
Bláhnaid appears to be someone at peace with herself. "I’m in a really nice spot, I’ve hit the sweet spot professionally," she smiles.
She’s still dipping her toe into TV work with the Lotto on rotation with other presenters and voice-over work for The Late Late Show and other reporting gigs. While TV is always of interest, returning to her early acting days is definitely not on the cards. "Oh God no" she laughs, "that wasn’t really even acting," she says referring to her days on Glenroe; "I was just in the background."
Certainly not in the background now – Bláthnaid Treacy is right where she wants to be, at home and at work.
"At the moment I’m my radio era and now I've the podcast as well to focus on. I’m really happy, things are good, professionally and personally. I’m in a sweet spot."
