When I look back, I was the most contented child. I grew up 10 minutes outside Cobh, Co Cork, and there were a lot of evenings spent playing in the garden, playing in the fields, going for swims, stuff like that. I loved school. I was your quintessential swot. I loved most of my subjects, especially English and art, and anything I got to be creative in.
I came up to Dublin to study journalism in DCU in 2013. College was harder, coming from a small town where everyone knew everyone and had really solid groups of friends. I didn’t have the self-confidence a lot of 18-year-olds would. In the early days, I was up and down to Cork every weekend. But I did eventually settle and made loads of friends.
I’ve never emigrated. It’s something I think about. I had friends go to Canada and they had really good experiences. But for me, and this is totally overdramatic, Cork to Dublin felt like my big move. I still feel very strongly about home and my family and Cobh and Cork, as all Cork people do. We can play the game of hypothesising over what could have happened if I went abroad, but if I had, I’m not sure I would have been there forever. I feel really strongly about Ireland and being Irish and being from here. I love it, even though it has its issues.
Reality TV was kind of a big boom for me. While working as a culture journalist, I started doing a podcast with my friend Bríd [Browne] called Bandwagons. This was peak Love Island. I started talking about that, and I started doing comedy videos. I was taking the piss out of influencers and then inadvertently became one. Through the comedy videos, someone saw me on social media and said: will you come in and start doing entertainment TV? I started on Ireland AM, doing music and TV slots. Things snowballed from there. This is the third year of me working for myself. I’ve been cover-presenting the Six O’Clock Show, and then I’ve had other things on the radio.
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I always say I wish I could have a tablespoon less shame and maybe give that tablespoon to some other people. Irish people really struggle with getting over cringe mountain. I feel like a lot of my friends have only realised in the last few years what I’ve been doing – it’s taken that long. That points to the fact that there aren’t as many people paying attention to you as you think. For anyone reading this thinking: “My God, I want to start [making videos]”, the best advice – and it’s really irritating, but that’s why it’s the best – is that you have to start. Start on your shitty tripod. There are videos I look back on and go: why did I do that? Or, I’d never make that now, it’s mortifying. But I did it, and it was a small step to where I am now.
Without blowing my own trumpet, I think part of the reason for my success is that Irish people have a certain amount of charm. That can be overly romanticised and diddly-eyed by Americans and stuff, but I think it is something innate. We’re not too serious. We have a glint in our eyes. We’re able to see things for what they are and have a little bit of a joke and embrace it all. In interviews, people respond to that Irish warmth. I don’t take things too seriously, but when things need to be taken seriously, I can and I do.
I was talking to someone recently about concerts. I’ve been to concerts abroad, I’ve been to lots of concerts here. I really don’t think artists are lying when they say: this is the best crowd I’ve ever seen. We’re just always well up for fun, well up for divilment. That attitude is like a big warm hug – when you go on a night out, or you go to a festival, and you know something magic is going to happen.
I couldn’t decide between Dublin and Cork because I just genuinely love them both so much
— Fionnuala Jay
We have really great food – I love eating around Ireland. It’s so exciting to go somewhere and see someone do something really cool with a dish. I don’t see why we’re not doing more to support restaurants and cafes that are closing.
We can have a real “out of sight, out of mind” attitude when it comes to waste. This honestly has only started to stress me out in the last few years, as I became more aware of sustainability. I think we can be really blasé about where our belongings go when we’re done with them, whether it’s clothes, rubbish, whatever. I find that really disheartening.
I got married earlier this year, and we’re having a second wedding, down in Cork. I couldn’t decide between Dublin and Cork because I just genuinely love them both so much. My husband is from Dublin. I wanted my city hall wedding, and I wanted my big traditional Irish sit-down hotel dinner. In Dublin it was so nice to be walking around the streets and everyone’s cheering for you, and you get your Guinness. There’s this idea that Irish families can be so stressful and on the morning you’re all killing each other, but we ended up having such a relaxed time. Cork is going to be totally mental, which is what I want.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly. This interview is part of a series about well-known people’s lives and relationship with Ireland. Fionnuala Jones is a broadcaster and host of the podcast Flop Culture
