TV presenter Mary Kennedy on her happy disposition, her late dad and her unusual way of controlling the television volumeMary Kennedy: 'A lot of people think of me as being quite serious, but I’d like them to know I have a fun side as well' John O'ConnorSun Jun 07 2026 - 06:00 • 5 MIN READHow agreeable are you? I actually think I’m very agreeable. I don’t always wear that as a badge of honour, because sometimes I think I’m – well, I used to be; I’m less so now as I get older – a terrible people pleaser. I would do anything to avoid confrontation. Very agreeable and, in the past, too agreeable? What is your middle name and what do you think of it? My middle name is Elizabeth, and I absolutely love it. I think it is the most elegant, lyrical name. I often said to my mother I’d love to have been called Elizabeth, but that wasn’t going to happen. I think I was called after my dad’s sister, Betty. I have a good friend called Betty too, but now if I had the [first] name Elizabeth, I would guard it with my life. Where is your favourite place in Ireland? I love Dublin. I love my home. I love the fact that I’m close to my friends and my family. My sister lives on Inishmore and I absolutely love going there. I love the idea of being on the island. Having worked for [RTÉ programme] Nationwide for so long, I’ve been to so many gorgeous places. My friend Betty has a place down in Kerry, in Brandon. But I suppose I would say, apart from my home, probably Inishmore. Describe yourself in three wordsEasy-going. This is such a contradiction in terms, because I am very easy-going, but I can also be quite anxious, which I don’t think negates the other. You know, I am anxious about things that relate to myself. But I’m easy-going. And third: garden. When did you last get angry?Referring back, I’m agreeable to a fault, but I get angry every time I see on television or social media what’s happening in Gaza and Ukraine. That makes me so, so angry. It’s just appalling when it’s to do with children and innocent people. I just can’t get my head around it. I find it makes me very angry and absolutely devastated for where we are in the world at the moment. What is your strongest childhood memory?My memory is visual; I tend to take my memories from photographs, things like that. But I have a very strong memory of a wonderful holiday we had over in Geesala, in Mayo. We were in a really old house and we realised on the first day that there was a stream that would run across the kitchen floor when the tide was in. So we had to jump from the kitchen table to the sink and jump from the sink back to the kitchen table.We kids – I’m not too sure about our parents or my aunt and uncle who were with us on holidays – appreciated it. That’s a really strong memory – of having a river in your kitchen. It was great fun because there was myself, my siblings and my three cousins from next door. We always went on holidays together. What have you lost that you would like to have back? I would have to say my dad. He’s very much at the forefront of that [holiday] memory. He died when he was 59. He had a heart attack playing golf and I was only 21. I would love, love, love to know [how the] adult relationship between me and my dad would have evolved. I think it would have been really lovely. He was a great character. He had a sense of humour and fun, and he was gregarious. I really feel that’s what I lost. I lost that adult relationship with my dad and I’d give anything to have it back or to have had it. Where do you come in your family’s birth order and has it defined you?Oh, definitely. I’m the eldest. Firstborn. The person with all the responsibility and seriousness. And I was a very serious younger person, a very serious child. I was very studious. For me, it was always belt and braces. If everybody else around me was studying, saying, “Oh, that poem won’t come up because it was on the Leaving Cert last year,” that wouldn’t do me. I’d be afraid. I would study everything. [ Mary Kennedy: ‘I had to give up work when I was 65. I didn’t choose to leave RTÉ’Opens in new window ]I’m sure it was a pain because I used to study above the television room, in my bedroom and I couldn’t bear the noise. I would have a little umbrella or something and I’d tap it on the floor. You’d go down and you’d see them all sitting right up at the television screen because that’s the only way they could hear it. No headphones in those days.Mary Kennedy: 'I didn’t want to retire because I didn’t know what was beyond retirement.' When do you think you were happiest? To be honest, I am happy by disposition. I had a very happy childhood. I am happy now. When I’m asked that question, I’m more inclined to answer that I am happy, but there have been moments in my life when I have been unhappy. Of course, one was when my dad died. Another one was when my marriage ended. That was a very unhappy time. When my mother died, it was a different type of sadness because there was a time to say goodbye and to tell her that she was loved. I can’t pick out the happiest, I can pick out the times when I wasn’t happy. It’s a long time since I was not happy. What do you think happens when we die? Well, I don’t know. I haven’t been there. I think we are very spiritual beings. I would love to think that the spirit goes on. I don’t know whether it’s in my imagination, but the people who I loved who have died, I can still feel their presence. You know the old, old tradition of the robin coming into you, just getting close to you, that that’s a soul of somebody who was in your life? I just love that. Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life? Now, it’s nothing to do with me, I’m not getting above my station by saying I’d love Meryl Streep. But what I’ve noticed about her is, I always considered her to be a very serious woman, a bit like me. I just saw clips around her promoting The Devil Wears Prada – she was a clown. She was acting, playing, laughing, messing with people. I got an insight into her; [she has] a genuine funny side. A lot of people think of me as being quite serious, but I’d like them to know that I have a fun side as well. What is your biggest career/personal regret?I have had a blessed career. I loved being a teacher. I loved all the opportunities with RTÉ. And a lot of people say “but didn’t you want to retire?” I didn’t want to retire because I didn’t know what was beyond retirement. But let me tell you, what was beyond retirement has been just joy. Mary Kennedy presents Moving West on Tuesdays on TG4 at 7.30pmIN THIS SECTION