Sinead Kennedy: "I absolutely needed to be a mom"

As the big freeze gripped Cork, TV presenter Sinead Kennedy maintains her sunny disposition. She talks to Janice Butler about how her life changed fundamentally when she became mother to Indie and Theo, why working on Today is exactly where she wants to be, and spending time in her home from home in Belgium.

"It’s absolute carnage; there’s no snow in Kinsale and then when you come into the city it’s crazy," reports Sinead Kennedy in her characteristic Cork accent. It’s been the week of the 'big freeze’ of January and Cork has been one of the areas badly hit with snow and ice, making life for the TV presenter and busy mother-of-two a little bit trickier.

Sinead, along with her daughter Indie (almost 4) and son Theo (1), have taken up residence with her mother Eileen in Cork city (her own home is in Kinsale), in a bid to avoid the hazardous roads. With husband Conor working full-time in Brussels with the European Defence Agency, the Monday to Friday, work/life balance falls to Sinead, but she’s quick to credit her mother and her childminder for making it possible.

"I’d be lost without them both; my mom is just amazing. I’m really lucky and I know it. I have friends who don’t live close to their moms, or their moms have passed and they don’t have that support. I genuinely don’t know how I would function without her," she says.

While Theo is with the childminder or Sinead’s mother, Indie has started pre-school and is thriving. "She’s such a little chatterbox, so she comes home with so many stories from her day, which is lovely," says her equally chatty mum.

Sinead returned to our screens last September, taking up her post on Today with Dáithí Ó Sé on Mondays and Tuesdays, after being on maternity leave following the birth of her second child Theo. She spent the summer in the family's home from home in Brussels and after just over three months of being back to work, she’s getting back into the rhythm of the routine...sort of.

"It’s chaos," she laughs. "It has been interesting to say the least. Coming back the second time is different because you kind of know what to expect and you think ‘I know how this works’ but no, it’s not the same with two children. It’s so much busier with all the logistics. But I wouldn’t change a thing about it," she adds.

As someone whose been in ‘the business’ for over 20 years, I’ve had many encounters with Sinead, from her early days in young people’s TV on Sattitude to her move to entertainment with Winning Streak, her impressive documentaries, including Laura Brennan: This is Me (documenting the final chapters of Laura Brennan’s life and her campaign for the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer).

Now in her current chapter as co-host of Today, I’ve never seen her more content and confident and she’s quick to agree, remarking that motherhood has been the making of her.

"I didn’t know that feeling this content was going to be part of it," she says. "I was never that person rushing to become a mum. I was so focused on work, it was something that I wanted but I wasn’t that person planning it from a young age or dreaming of it. I changed profoundly from the minute that Indie was put into my arms. My family laugh that I went to the hospital to have her and came back a completely different person, in a good way. I didn’t know it was what I needed; but I absolutely needed to be a mom. It’s been the making of me," she adds.

"I know not everyone has the same experience and I get a bit of backlash from people when I say this; people saying it’s unrelatable or toxic positivity but it’s not, it’s just my experience. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love being a mom and I couldn’t be happier."

"I was so career-focused from such a young age, that life for me was work, work, work," she explains. "So when we wanted to start a family, I felt in a good place in work. I’d done a few documentaries, they’d gone really well for me and I had stepped out of the box that people had placed me in and then with regard to presenting, I was on Today, so I was in a good place," she adds.

Have there been disappointments along the way? "Oh God, yes," she answers quickly. "There’s definitely been jobs where I thought they’d be perfect for me, like they’ve been made for me and sometimes they give you a shot but you don’t get the job. Other times, you’re not even considered. But that’s just part of this job; people have certain people in mind for things and that’s ok. I used to be quite sensitive about it, because I’d be like ‘I know I can do that job’, but I’m far more pragmatic about it now," she explains.

"I don’t have the time to put anything else on my plate at the moment. I’m very happy with where I am. I don’t need to be constantly chasing any more, I’m actually really content. Now, the ambition is not dead; there’s definitely things I want to do but while the kids are this small, I’m happy where I’m at. There’s plenty of time to get back to other projects," she adds.

What about the upcoming Irish version of The Traitors, which will be hosted by Siobhán McSweeney: would something like that interest her? "I just wanted the stylists on that one!" she laughs. "That would have been great craic to do, but it’s not something that even came on my radar. I don’t know if it’s a bad place to be, but I’m just so comfortable on Today that I’m not looking at what else is going on. I’ve so much going on in my personal life. Pre-kids, I’d have been banging down the doors for something like Traitors," she replies.

While Sinead’s life may seem complicated, for her and Conor, the long-distance situation has been a reality for a lot of their relationship. As a naval officer, Conor was often away and when she was based in Dublin for work in the past, he was in Cork. The pair tied the knot in 2014 in Sneem before celebrating at their reception in Dromquinna Manor in Kenmare. While distance has always been an issue, they’ve always made it work and are now making it work for their young family between Cork and Brussels. Conor is home most weekends and Sinead will be making a visit to Belgium next week with the kids, their first visit since September.

As in the last few summers, she’ll spend those months in Brussels when Today is off air. "I miss it there. It’s funny, I’ve spent so much time there in the last four years that it feels like my home away from home. Wherever we are together, is home for me," she chimes.

"There’s a gorgeous family vibe to the place. It’s a nice pace. I had never even been to Belgium prior to Conor going, but it’s a really lovely place and we’re very happy spending time there."

She remarks that when they do get time together as a family, especially in the summer, they cherish the simple things. "It’s priceless to us. Just to be able to be in our place in Brussels, the four of us, when Conor or I aren’t coming and going, is wonderful for us. The simple things that people take for granted, we love; like for Conor to walk in the door from work and we’re there, or for us all to sit down and have a meal together: that means the world to us because we don’t have it every day. It’s a chapter we’re in at the moment and we’re making the most of it," she explains.

Conor has a few more years left in Brussels, or in Sinead’s words, "it’s an ongoing chapter, to which we don’t know the ending just yet."

Next week, she’ll pack the bags and take flight with Indie and Theo in tow. What seems like a task to most, she takes in her trademark stride. "It’s fine, you get so used to it; I’ll have the nappies, the snacks, the two humans and a travel stroller and I’m grand," she laughs.

"Look, no day is guaranteed. You take each one as a blessing, that’s one of the things I learned working with Laura Brennan. I go with the flow and try to soak up all the goodness."

Ever the optimist and ray of sunshine; and that’s why we love her.