Síle Seoige: "No shade to urban areas – but I’m a country girl"

Not that it’s a competition or anything, but you’d be doing well to find a more ‘Irish’ county than Galway.

Its eponymous city feels more like a picturebook village, with loquacious locals, colourful buildings, and buskers jamming on narrow, cobblestoned streets. The countryside meanwhile, is green and dramatic, characterised by mountains, loughs, ring forts and rugged coastline.

This essence is at its most distilled in the Connemara region. The name literally translates to ‘Inlets of the Sea,’ reflecting the countless coves and islands that dot the shores of the wild Atlantic landscape.

There’s a quasi-magical allure to the place, which explains why it draws in hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and why local Síle Seoige returned after years of living in the capital.

“Like a lot of people, when you’re a teenager and you’re in your early twenties, you want to leave your home and explore,” she says. “I moved to Dublin at 19 and had essentially been in Dublin since.”

Seoige has enjoyed a career as an Irish media polymath, dipping her toes into voiceovers, singing, acting and motivating. She’s probably best known as a TV and radio presenter, working on shows across RTÉ and TG4 in both English and as Gaeilge. She also hosts a weekly podcast, Ready To Be Real, which features long conversations with well-known figures, extraordinary individuals and experts covering a wide breadth of topics.

More recently, the 46-year-old has taken on one of life’s more challenging jobs – a role which heavily influenced her decision to move back to the West of Ireland.

“I have a son who’s seven, his name is Cathal, and I have a daughter called Clíodhna, she’s three,” she explains. “I think when you become a parent, you want to give your kids as lovely a childhood as you can. That childhood can be anywhere, no shade to urban areas – but I’m a country girl.

“When I was pregnant with our son, we knew that we probably weren’t going to stay in Dublin full-time, because I’m from Galway and [my partner Damien] is from Cork, and we both loved the sea.”
After a property came up for sale in her home village, it was an easy and obvious choice.

“We moved back a few years ago. We’ve been building our home across the beach in An Spidéal, the house was completed last summer and we’re loving life. I’m from a really gorgeous place.

“Our favourite family thing to do when the weather is good is to be on the beach. We can literally walk from our house to the water for a dip. That was the dream when we were living in Dublin. We would have had to plan a day at the beach and pack up the car and travel to get that experience, but now we have it on our doorstep.

“Even when the weather isn’t great, my kids just bang on wetsuits. My son loves jumping off the pier and the little one loves building sandcastles.”

As well as the natural beauty it boasts by virtue of being on Connemara’s doorstep, An Spidéal is widely regarded as a hotspot for Irish craft, where local designers and artists sell their creations at the various stores and cafés

“There’s a lovely coffee shop right in the village called Rúnda,” Seoige says. “I always order my coffee in Irish – a ‘caife le bainne oat.’ I wouldn’t use Irish for oat milk to be fair!”

Another establishment on her list of recommendations is Builín Blasta – a vibrant cafe, restaurant and award-winning food producer, where you can find gourmet products like their signature Smoked Onion Mayo.

Then there’s Standún, a department store specialising in a variety of Irish produce and gifts that’s been operated by the same family for over 60 years, building their reputation on selling high quality Aran knitwear and authentic Irish merchandise.

Further afield, Seoige is pretty qualified to give the lowdown on some of the best eats around Ireland, having travelled extensively around the island.

“In Galway, Kai is amazing, then in Cork I love Elbow Lane,” she shares. “They primarily do meat dishes, but funnily enough, I nearly always go vegetarian. I’m not vegetarian, but I absolutely love their vegetarian food. I love sitting up at the bar and the service is wonderful, the food is incredible, and they have great wine. It’s a great spot. Their parent restaurant in Cork is Market Lane and then they have Goldie that is primarily fish based.”

Kai.

When it comes to a pint of the good stuff, her allegiances stand firm.

“Better [Guinness] in Dublin? I wouldn’t agree with that!” Seoige slams. “I love the Crane Bar in Galway City. It’s very well known among Galwegians. It’s a great spot to get cosy and enjoy a few creamy pints, particularly when there’s a session upstairs.”

She’s also become a bit of a staycation expert, opting to holiday around Ireland while her kids were young to avoid the stress and hassle of travelling abroad.

“There’s plenty of places around Ireland. We go down to Cork a good bit as my other half is from there. Inchydoney in West Cork is a great spot, we love heading out to Westport too. We had a lovely stay up in Donegal and went all around the Inishowen peninsula last year, that was fabulous. There’s loads of hidden gems.

“Another place we absolutely love is just across the water from us in County Clare. We love Spanish Point, they’ve got the most amazing beach there. The Armada Hotel has cottages, which we stayed in and the kids just had a ball.”

Elbow Lane.

As you’ve likely picked up from some of the businesses Seoige mentioned from her hometown, An Spidéal is an Irish speaking village. Galway contains a higher percentage of Irish speakers than any other county at 49%. Connemara alone has an estimated 20,000 to 24,000 native Irish speakers, making it the largest Gaeltacht in Ireland.

“The majority, if not every single business, is Irish-speaking,” Seoige explains. “I’m very fortunate that it’s my normal. It always has been. I grew up in an area where people speak it every day as a natural, normal thing. It’s not an effort.

“Now my kids are getting to have that experience as well, rather than perhaps living in another part of the country. They might have attended a gaelscoil, but they’re not necessarily speaking Irish outside of that, whereas in the village, they’re immersed in life through Irish.”

Seoige, a passionate and well-known advocate of our native language, touches on the apparent resurgence, or athbheochan, of younger people speaking Irish in recent years.

“We can see at the moment what’s been happening,” she beams. “We see the explosion of Kneecap and the impact they’re having on people, and the conversations that are popping up.

“For so long people would speak about how it’s taught in such a poor way. We can’t ignore that people’s experience of the language is negative, we need to listen to them, we need to understand why that is. I’ve been saying the same thing for 20 years about this.

“Plenty of people within the realm of speaking about the Irish language have also been saying the same thing. It needs a rethink, and Kneecap have completely shown that. Now you have a younger generation who are eager to learn and include it in their everyday conversations, even if it’s just a word here or there. It’s becoming normal and not something to be shunned or ashamed of. It belongs to each and every one of us.”

When asked about what else makes her home country special, Seoige reflects on the nation’s personality and history.

“The people – that’s what we’re known for in the world around us: our personality, our love of fun, of having the craic, not taking ourselves too seriously,” she says. “Despite our dark history, we’re just fantastic at appreciating the now and living in the moment. I think that’s what makes us really special. It gives us such depth as people.

“Because of our heritage and our history, because of what we have been through and what’s ingrained in our DNA, there is a sense of gratitude for what we have. I think we have this innate rebellious streak.

“That’s why we have such a rich history in music, poetry, creativity and expression. Eight hundred years of colonisation will do that to you. With what’s happening at the moment in Gaza, we’re seeing that the vast majority of Irish people are very much united in calling for Palestinians to have their freedom.

“We just feel it. It’s just something in the middle of our stomach. We don’t have to work at understanding that feeling. We have that instant empathy and compassion for what Palestinians are going through. I think that’s the difference between countries who have colonised and countries who have been the colonisers.”

It’s the sort of issue that Seoige frequently discusses with experts at length on her podcast.

“They all stand out for me in different ways,” she reflects. “But certainly a podcast that I recorded this year with somebody that was on my dream list from the beginning is Dr. Gabor Maté.

“He’s somebody who I’ve admired for such a long time. He’s a Holocaust survivor whose work now is focused in the area of trauma. He’s been an amazing voice for what’s happening in Gaza, but the way he speaks about everything, from ADHD, addiction, parenting and modern life, his perspective and his wisdom is remarkable.”

These sorts of thoughts, insights and pertinent conversations help Ready To Be Real stand out in a crowded field. Running since 2019, it’s cemented itself as one of the highest rated shows in the country.

“The conversations are meaty and real and genuine,” Seoige says. “And that’s what I wanted them to be, because that is the most important thing to me in life.

“I might speak to somebody who’s well known, and get a different angle on that person. Or I might speak to somebody who just has an extraordinary story to tell, who might not be known at all, or an expert in a particular field, who’s talking about a topic.”

“They might have completely different views to me on a particular topic, but I love when I meet people who are fully comfortable being themselves. It puts me at ease. I take so much.

“I don’t have to go through more nonsense in my life anymore. I’m in my mid-forties. I have had my own ups and downs. And I know how liberating it is to just stand in your own truth, whatever that is.”

• New episodes of Ready To Be Real are released weekly. 

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