Brendan O’Connor in a new parenting podcast: ‘I was mad. I was mental’

Brendan O’Connor is used to being the one who asks the questions on his radio show. But, in the first episode of Conversations with Parents, a new podcast from The Irish Times, the tables are turned on the RTÉ broadcaster as host Jen Hogan, queries him on all things parenting and discovers he is suffering with a touch of Imposter Syndrome.
We’re not used to getting to see such a personal side to O’Connor, who is the proud father of two teenage daughters, Anna and Mary, and husband to journalist, Sarah Caden, but during the conversation O’Connor talks about how fatherhood changed him. “I was mental” he explains. “I was mad”, and describes fatherhood as redemptive.
O’Connor opens up about the realities of raising teenage daughters, even admitting that he was very relieved to have daughters, rather than sons. And in the age of Andrew Tate and Donald Trump, with plenty of misogynistic messaging evident on social media, he discusses the tools his tries to equip his daughters with to navigate the world as it is today.
Speaking of social media, while the rest of the country appears to be debating phone pouches for secondary school students and their €9 million price tag, O’Connor discusses teachable moments, the social media platforms allowed in his house, and whether he thinks phones and technology are necessarily a bad addition to his daughters’ young lives.
O’Connor’s youngest daughter, Mary, has Down syndrome, and this, he explains has shaped his views on life. He describes her birth as a “defining moment” in his life adding that her arrival was “the end of one life and the beginning of another one”. But how exactly has being the parent of a child with additional needs changed him? And what is the one particular lesson that he couldn’t wait to teach her?
While Ireland likes to consider itself a more inclusive place in 2024, O’Connor has some strong views on whether this is really the case. “Mary is experiencing less inclusion as she goes along”, he says, while not holding back on his thoughts around the educational provisions Ireland is making for children with additional needs.
Separately O’Connor shares his opinions of Brazilian Bum Bum cream, his nugget of parenting wisdom and offers his thoughts on modern parenting phenomena.
Listen here or search for Conversations with Parents wherever you get your podcasts.