Her self-titled RTE One show debuted to rave reviews last week but Claire Byrne has encountered the same struggles most working mums face, even admitting that if it wasn’t for her negative equity mortgage, she may have decided to take a longer maternity leave.
Byrne gave birth to her second child, Jane, 16 weeks ago and also has her hands full with 14-month-old Patrick, her son with long-term partner Gerry Scollan, but took just a fortnight off before they were born and ten weeks afterwards. Speaking to The Daily Mail, the star of Claire Byrne Live said: “I am one of those people who suffers with a negative equity mortgage and that is one of the reasons why I came back to work. I can’t afford to be off for a long period of time.”
“I took two weeks off before and ten weeks after, which is what I did with Patrick. With Patrick, I felt like I had a good bit of time off cooing with my new baby.
“This time around, it has been very different because on top of looking after Patrick I had Jane.”
The presenter revealed that despite her decision to return to work after 10 weeks, she didn’t long for a more maternity leave: “I really admire people who can stay at home for six months or a year or longer. I don’t know how they do it. I need to get out of the house. I am actually a better mother when I am in and out, and I am lucky with my job in RTE that it is flexible. It’s good for me, and I think it will be good for them as well.”
