I arrived in Ireland in February 1999. I’d been accepted to do a master’s in Glasgow. I thought, I’ll do six months here, and then I’ll start school in Scotland in September. And I just never left, basically. I got a job working for the then chief executive in Today FM, and then my first radio job was on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show. I was like: I like this a lot. And I stayed there for 10 years.
I grew up in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada. My father was pretty ill for a lot of my childhood, and he died when I was 14. But despite that, I had a lovely, charmed childhood. We had a gorgeous, massive redbrick house – as you could achieve in the 1980s in Canada – and that’s where we lived, in the city. Then we had – and we still have to this day – this beautiful old farmhouse on a good couple of hundred acres. That’s where we were for our weekends and summers. I grew up jumping off a raft into a lake with a bunch of snakes and turtles and fish.
When I first came to Ireland, I liked the fact that Dublin had this feeling of a town, but it was a huge capital city. It felt very vibrant.
There were things I was stumped on. I didn’t get how men and women didn’t interact. All the women I became friends with had never had a male friend, and I didn’t understand this at all. So, the biggest stumbling block for me was realising the impact of single-sex schools. Growing up, I was a total tomboy, and my best friends were boys and girls.
Alison Curtis: ‘On arriving in Ireland I was stumped at how men and women didn’t interact’
‘I’m an accidental emigrant. Once you have a child somewhere it’s hard to go back’
Emma Donoghue: ‘In Ireland we start with the slagging. That is something I really treasure’
Maser: ‘I fell in love with Ireland again. It offered me a sense of place and security’
I know Irish people maybe don’t see it this way, but I feel like it’s a much more carefree country [than elsewhere]. We’re not rule-oriented over here. It’s a nation full of free thinkers, individuals. I love that nobody else is on time for anything either. I found my tribe.
I would not get the same joy working in radio if I had stayed in Canada, because Irish people are so loyal to stations, shows, individuals. There is that village-community mentality. People feel like they know you. Irish people don’t buy bulls**t; so you don’t have jocks jocking it up. You have real people on air – real personalities.
I’m the longest-running female presenter on Today FM. My own show [Weekend Breakfast with Alison Curtis] is 12 years old this year. I started it when [my daughter] Joan was three. I’m doing my dream job, so I’m extremely lucky. I know it can sound corny, but I live, eat, breathe, think about radio all the time. My listeners are very generous in sharing their lives. If I speak to people on air, I remember it really clearly. It’s funny. Messages will come in and they’re like: you said hello to Rían when he was four, he’s now 14, and we’re still listening. They’re happy to be part of the fabric of the show.
We’re launching season two of the Untold Ireland: My Town podcast [in which we visit different towns in Ireland] soon. From doing it, I’ve fallen more in love with the country I already thought I was madly in love with. One of the biggest things I [discovered] is how proactive people are in communities. I left every single one going, Jesus Christ, I’m lazy. Everybody is working to the betterment of all people of the community. They’re looking at how to include literacy, how to include people from the Traveller community, people from outside Ireland that have made Ireland their home. We’re a really impressive nation on that front. We’re really smart and we’re really creative.
I’ve been an Irish citizen for 12 years. I think being Irish is a very specific thing, and a good thing. At first, I was like: why are you seeking each other out on holidays in Spain? But now I get it. I seek out the Irish people on holidays in Spain. It’s a very strong identity, and it’s rooted in survival, and it’s rooted in pride.
In the last few years, other populations have moved into the country, and we’ve seen some ugliness come from that, which is disappointing. But one thing the My Town podcast has taught me is that the majority of it is positive, inclusive. Look at incredible role models like Rhasidat Adeleke – people whose parents might have been born in another country – but they are Irish. Diversity is something to celebrate and be proud of. I’m really proud to be Irish. When I travel, I say Irish first now: Irish-Canadian.
I’ve lived more of my life in Ireland than I did in Canada. I get asked sometimes, ‘Would you ever go back to Canada?’ And no would be the answer. I would love having more holiday time there.
My mother also passed away when we were teenagers, so my [twin] sister and I have a really close bond. I have cousins that are like brothers [in Canada], and their kids are really close. With each year that passes [I think] it would be nice to be with them more. Sometimes FaceTime doesn’t cut it. But 90 per cent of my life is here, and I would never leave.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly
