Muireann O’Connell: "You never know what’s gonna happen in Limerick – which I love"

As one of the main hosts of Ireland’s biggest breakfast show, Ireland AM, Muireann O’Connell’s alarm goes off when the rest of us are still in the land of nod.

“Best job in the world, it’s grand,” she assures me.

Taking time out to call me in the middle of her split shift, Muireann is as warm and as fun as she is on the telly. From seeing her various presenting roles and social media clips over the years, it’s clear she has a great sense of humour. Muireann’s Instagram page is full of fun. I particularly like her “get ready with me” reels, where she talks us through her work outfits and make-up. Being so effortlessly stylish, who are her go-to Irish designers?

“I’ve been lucky enough to wear Helen Steele over the years. I love her stuff,” she enthuses. “I wouldn’t be able to get away with Simone Rocha, but I was looking at her sports collab recently and it’s absolutely divine!

“Throw a penny and you’ve got fancy Irish designers in Paris. Look at Sorch O’Raghallaigh and see the great stuff she’s doing. There’s Lia Cowan, and Aoife McNamara is growing her brand out of Limerick, which is just wonderful to see.

“Marion Murphy-Cooney has been doing that for a couple of decades. To see designers really trying to do as much as they can in Ireland is amazing.”

 

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Having moved to Dublin in 2011, Muireann is thrilled to have recently bought her first house in Dublin. With her keen eye for design, she shares some of her favourite spots for homeware and how she’s finding decorating her new home.

“It can be so overwhelming, because there was quite literally nothing here,” she says. “You could go mad and buy a bunch of new stuff which you’d hate in a few years’ time, because it’s all trend pieces. I shop in Browsers at home in Limerick, they’re fantastic. They’ve got great taste, so it’s lovely to go into places like that, it’s a bit of a splurge. I’ve gone to Mac’s Warehouse and all that kind of stuff around Dublin, trying to find little bits that you love.”

Now that Muireann has put down roots in Dublin, what does her ideal day out in the capital look like?

“I do have a perfect day out,” she says. “So, myself and some of the girls will head into the National Gallery and walk around, and look at all the beautiful rooms. I’ll go and stare at The Opening Of The Sixth Seal for about half-an-hour, because that’s my favourite thing in there, and then we’ll go on a bit of a pub crawl! We do the National Gallery to be like, ‘Look at us, aren’t we cultured and fantastic?’ Then we make our way to Doheny & Nesbitts, and Neary’s and Sheehan’s, and have a lovely old day. That’s what Dublin’s all about, isn’t it, really?”

Never forgetting her hometown of Limerick, Muireann shares her first port of call for food and drinks when she’s home for a visit.

“For food, it’s my mother’s for a mammy salad,” she says. “Which will inevitably consist of some sort of potato salad beside a raspberry, beside a piece of brie, with some manchego, cherries, smoked salmon, and obviously, boiled eggs and some form of lettuce. In the deep of winter, my mother will still do one of these Irish mammy salads, and that’s what I get every single time I go home. And yes, I know, I’m so lucky to have that in my life.

“I love to go into the Milk Market on a Saturday morning and meet the girls. Just make your way around, grazing on the food and coffee and everything that’s there. Absolutely love it inside there. We’re suckers for going to Cornstore in Limerick, because it can hold everybody. So it’s often like, ‘Are we going to Cornstore again?’ Any sort of celebration we’ve had, the Cornstore has been involved over the years!”

Cornstore

Top place for a tipple?

“Oh, it’d be Tom Collins’,” Muireann enthuses. “It used to be Nancy’s, but we moved from Nancy’s up to TC’s once you get over a certain age. Tom Collins’ is a fabulous pub. There’s a lovely vibe out the back there. The staff are sound, and so are the people inside. It’s a great pub.”

Returning to her own work, Muireann also started a new podcast earlier this year, Parting Words. Each episode explores grief, where the guest shares stories of, “Love, loss, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.”

“The podcast is about grief, and grief is very different from death and funerals,” says Muireann. “Something I learned was, we give people about 12 weeks and then it’s like, get over it. ‘Are you still talking about that?’ It’s really interesting, because unfortunately, it is an intrinsic part of life. Almost everyone will go through a grief that profoundly affects them, and it’s funny how sometimes we try to avoid talking about it.”

As I move on to what feel like trivial questions in comparison, Muireann reminds me that life is all about “the light and the shade”.

Born in Limerick to Kerry parents, she unsurprisingly loves heading to ‘The Kingdom’ for a staycation.

“Oh, I love Kerry,” she laughs. “During Covid, we got very angry that more people had discovered where my Dad is from, which is Caherdaniel. When they lifted the restrictions we went down there, and I’d never seen it so busy in my entire life. So, I’d have to say anywhere in Kerry would be my favourite place to go. Cromane, Killorglin, Glenbeigh, Caherdaniel, Derrynane... it just makes me so happy. I get happy driving into the county.”

Caherdaniel - Discover Ireland

While Muireann’s parents are both from Kerry, they originally met in London and ended up moving to Limerick for work.

“And thank God, like, I bloomin’ love Limerick. Frickin’ love it, like…” she gushes. “It was the whipping boy of Ireland, and I still think it is, but what a town. Going over to The Curragower on a sunny evening in June or July, and you’re sitting there having a drink after a gorgeous meal, looking out over the Shannon to King John’s Castle, it’s stunning!

“People have all these opinions about it, and I’m just like, let’s go for a weekend, and you’ll have the best craic. You never know what’s gonna happen in Limerick, which I love. You could start as easy as you want, and for some reason, you’re gonna end up at the back of 101 until 4 o’clock in the morning!”

• Catch Muireann O’Connell on Ireland AM, weekdays from 7am-10am on Virgin Media.