Hometown girl - Mary Kennedy shares her thoughts on home

TV favourite Mary Kennedy tells SIOBHÁN BREATNACH about her lockdown passion project and why she’ll never take Ireland for granted

Lockdown led to discovery for TV’s Mary Kennedy.

The former host of RTÉ’s Nationwide and Dancing with the Stars alumni (an experience she describes as ‘unbelievably intense but equally exhilarating and fabulous’) embraced the downtime imposed by the pandemic to team up on a very special project with her sister.

“My sister Deirdre and I have just finished writing a book on Celtic spirituality. It’s lovely,” she says.

“At the beginning of the year there was an article in the Sunday Indo and I mentioned the fact that Deirdre lives on the Aran Islands and was big into Celtic spirituality.”

A natural storyteller, whose musings on life have earned the broadcaster a legion of fans over the years, the presenter was later approached by her publishing company and asked if she would collaborate with her sibling.

The book sees Mary sharing some of her personal life experiences, which sister Deirdre – a respected writer and Celtic spirituality retreat host – then interprets.

“I’m very happy now to have done it. Let’s face it we were in lockdown so there wasn’t a huge amount going on,” she jokes.

It’s not the first time Mary has delved into her back catalogue of past memories.

Last summer she took part in RTÉ Cláracha Gaeilge’s feel-good series, Saoi sa Chathaoir (Wise one in the Chair), where she reflected on some of the events and people that have impacted her most – from seeing JFK on the streets of Dublin during his tour of Ireland to her time in India to cover

Mother Teresa’s funeral in 1997.

The new co-authored book, due to be published in October, is called ‘Journey to the Well’ – a nod to St. Brigid’s Holy Well in Clondalkin.

Her parents chose to live in the suburban town south west of Dublin when they left the city centre.

“It was a tiny little village when my parents moved out there.

They’re from the city, in around Phoenix Park,” she says.

“When they moved out their families thought they were mad, that they were moving to the sticks. It was a tiny little village but with a lot of history. There’s a St Brigid’s Well in Clondalkin, there’s the Round Rower. Now it’s an urban centre, a bustling suburb of the city.”

“I grew up in Clondalkin,” she adds. “People look at it and think it’s ordinary but there’s a lot of heritage there. The book is a reminder that we, as Celtic and Irish people, have a lot in our DNA that’s very special. It’s a reminder not to take ourselves for granted, that we have a very rich and ancient heritage.”

Mary’s own childhood is rich in memories of days spent enjoying the beauty of Co. Dublin.

“When we were children, we always decamped to Skerries and Rushe. My brother now lives in Skerries and back then we thought we were going to the south of France,” she laughs.

“We thought it was so exotic when we were there. Then, it took the whole day to get there, now it’s about 45 minutes on the M50.”

“It’s another really interesting part of Dublin but yet it has that lovely village feel because it’s got its main street, the beach, the south beach, a fabulous harbour, it’s got the Ardgillan Castle, the windmill and it’s lovely that we still have a family connection with Skerries.”

Dublin is all about the perfect balance of city and countryside for the broadcaster.

“People, when they think of Dublin, they think of Dublin city and it’s so much more than that,” she says.

“I actually quite like the north inner city. First of all, the Phoenix Park is unbelievably fabulous. My parents both grew up in Dublin 7, around the Camden markets.

“I have very fond memories as a child,” she adds. “My grandmother lived just off the North Circular Road and on a Thursday we used to go out of her cul-de-sac and onto the road because the famers would park their vehicles in the Phoenix Park and herd their cattle up to

the cattle markets in Smithfield.

“We used to go there on summer holidays and stand and watch them going by. I used to love the smell of the cattle. It’s funny, now outside the pub, it’s called Hanlon’s Corner, they have this lovely statue of a cow, which is gorgeous - a reminder of the cattle market and all that heritage.”

But getting out and embracing the countryside is also good for the soul.

“I live at the foot of the Dublin Mountains and when we were allowed to go beyond the 5km, the joy,” Mary says. “During the 5km, I just went in my own area, which has a weir at the dodder and very nice Gaelic pitches where I did my runs.

“It’s funny I discovered an old granite cross which dated back to 1867. I never realised before and it was just there on my run.

“The Dublin Mountains are a huge amenity,” she adds. “As soon as we went beyond the

5km, I was up hiking. My partner and I do like to hike so it was lovely to get back to that.

“I love Tibradden, the Hell Fire Club is again another piece of history. I love the Lead Mines Way and Carrickgollogan up from Rathmichael. The lead mines are beautiful; there’s beautiful scenery. And there’s wonderful beach walks as well along Sandymount.”

It’s no surprise the landscape and history of Ireland has found a way from the broadcaster’s heart and into her work.

In earlier years, when she was studying French and Irish at University College Dublin (UCD), her summer job was as a tour guide.

“When I was a student, I was a tour guide in Dublin Castle. It was brilliant; I loved it,” she says.

“It really is worth it, if you’re in Dublin, going in and taking the tour. First of all, it’s very opulent, it’s a piece of history. St. Patrick’s Hall is where our presidents are inaugurated, where any state banquets take place. It goes back to the Knights of St. Patrick. The Chester Beatty Library is there.

“My paternal grandfather was a member of the RIC before we had a state, and that’s also commemorated in the garda museum in the grounds of Dublin Castle.

“We also did an awful lot of work for Nationwide around the 1913 Lockout and 1916,” she adds. “Henrietta Street is an amazingly interesting area, just off Parnell Square. In 2013, I remember filming a re-enactment of a Sean O’Casey play about the poverty, the tenements and now they’ve made that into a tenement museum.”

Talk of her student years sparks another memory and a travel tip.

“A beautiful place and a must-see is the National Concert Hall,” she says. “My first year it was part of UCD. My first-year exams were held in there and every time I go into the Concert Hall, with its beautiful Waterford Crystal chandelier and music, I get the goosebumps and think about going into that great hall to sit exams and praying for a good result,” she jokes.

The presenter’s newest project is a six-part series filming for

TG4 about people who have left urban settings like Dublin or London and chosen to live in the West of Ireland.

Has it tempted her at all to leave the familiarity of Dublin behind - perhaps a move closer to her sister in the Aran Islands?

“I am a Dub but I love rural Ireland and I love going over there to my sister in Inis Mór,” she says.

“I love Donegal, Kerry … I just love the change of pace. I’d never say never, my family is here, my daughter lives in Limerick city.

“I love everywhere but I do particularly like Ireland,” she says. “I think we have something very special and sometimes we take it for granted.

“We think ‘oh god, we have to go on holidays in Ireland again’ but you can hike; the foods fabulous. There’s always something to do.”

And with that she’s off … most likely to grab her hiking boots and hit those Dublin Mountain trails.