Mairead Ronan is mastering the art of saying no by leaving Today FM

The mother of three told Weekend Magazine that she was more aware of how precious time is than ever before 

Mairead Ronan is leaving Today FM to focus on family. Picture: Moya Nolan

"Giving up my career in radio for these two (and the big fella) — but the funny thing is Bonnie couldn't give a fiddlers."

Mairead Ronan shared a gorgeous video talking to her daughters about her decision to leave Today FM. Eliza is clearly delighted, announcing to her younger sister "Mommy is not going to work in three more weeks. But her has to go on Fittest Family." When Mairead asks her is she happy about it, the little girl says "yes! So happy."

It's a great example of why the radio broadcaster has chosen to step down from her show on Today FM to prioritise family time. After a twenty-year career with the radio station, Ronan announced last week that Friday, December 10 would be her last show. 

The Ireland's Fittest Family host married businessman Louis Ronan in 2015 and is mother to three children: Dara, Eliza and Bonnie. She has fronted The Mairead Ronan Show between noon-2pm on the station since 2019.

In a post on social media, the station paid tribute to Ronan’s “incredible” time with Today FM.

“We are going to miss Mairead Ronan massively after an incredible two years behind the mic and many more years behind-the-scenes, running the show (literally!) at Today FM.

“Mairead announced today that she will be stepping away from her lunchtime show in December to spend more time with her lovely family after Covid made her realise that we only get one life and she doesn’t want to miss out on any important family moments.”

In October, Mairead told Weekend magazine that time was something that had been playing on her mind a lot lately. With three children in the house, it’s easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of it all, she told Jennifer Stevens, especially now that they’re all out the door in the mornings.

“I’ve got a Junior Cert student, I’ve got a Junior Infant and Bonnie has started preschool. I was worried about Bonnie starting because she’s definitely the quietest child I’ve had, but I blame Covid because she was 18 months old when Covid hit. She never got to go to mommy-toddler groups or little jamboree things. I wondered how she would get on sharing toys because she’s never had to. I thought 'this is going to be very tricky' but weirdly, maybe because she was so starved of it, she thrived from day-one.

"She couldn’t wait to get to day-two and day-three and it got to the point on Saturday where she was saying, 'I want to go to school'. When we told her there was no school, she cried! It was really funny, her reaction to starting was totally opposite to what we thought she was going to be, but she adored it.

But it was Dara doing his Junior Cert next June that seemed to have had the biggest impact on Mairead, Stevens noted in her interview.

“It’s not the exam, it’s more that he’s heading into the senior years of school next year and that’s freaking me out. The passing of time has hit me so hard in the last 18 months. It really does seem like no time since I was dropping him to his first day of junior infants, bending down to give him a hug and now he has to bend down to hug me. He’s actually miles taller than me, it’s hilarious that at one point he used to sit on my hip. He’s well over six foot now. He’s huge and he’s only 14."

"People say when your kids start school, the years speed up. I hadn’t noticed that until this year when, oh my God, Eliza has gone in, Bonnie has started her journey and Dara is halfway through secondary school. How the hell did that happen? I’m very aware of time and what I do with my time now. Some might feel I’ve become a bit mean with my time and that I’m not giving it away as freely as I used to, but we were busy fools."

Priorities had clearly shifted for the presenter, and she was learning to master the art of saying no.

"Before when somebody asked me to do something, appear on a TV show say, I would have said 'yes, of course no problem'. But it’s not the 15 minutes on the telly, it’s the entire day of getting ready for that. Possibly a hair appointment the day before, and possibly a nail appointment the day before that. That’s what I mean.

“Now, I definitely turn my phone off. I say no to things. I take my time before I say yes to something because it all eats into time with the kids or cooking a decent meal. I’m just very aware of that stuff now, far more than I was before.

"A really good pal asked me to meet the other day and I had to say no, I can’t make it work, 18 months ago I would have gone to Today FM to do my show, run to do voiceovers for Fittest Family, got home, said hi to the kids and run out the door again. That’s not fair on anyone. I was tying myself in knots, crazy stuff, I just don’t do it now. I’m more selfish with my time for the immediate family.”

In January of this year, the presenter spoke candidly about motherhood to Weekend Magazine, talking about the stresses Lockdown had brought to her family. 

I was like, 'what about people who have children?' It was like we didn't exist," she said of Lockdown. "This period has put a spotlight for me on the fact that childcare in this country at a Government level is not a priority for anyone. It's just not.” With no childcare and a full work ticket, stress led to feelings of self-doubt for the star. “In Lockdown One I wasn't a good mother, I wasn't a good presenter in Today FM, I wasn't a good wife, I wasn't a good daughter. I kind of felt like I was shit at everything.”

She told me that she is most confident in her ability as a mother. "It's one thing that I actually think I'm good at. I am very lucky with my three children. They are happy, healthy and they are good craic."