Jennifer Horgan: Returning from maternity leave challenging enough without a wayward teen to mind

Holly Cairns's first week back from maternity leave must have been a shock to the system, but it's important we see the reality for women, writes Jennifer Horgan

The Eoin Hayes controversy did serve another unintended purpose as it had us all thinking about Holly Cairns's maternity leave.

Holly Cairns must be confused about what stage of parenting she’s at. Within one morning she went from nappies and wipes, night feeds and spit-ups, straight into the fractious melodrama of parenting a wayward teen.

That’s certainly how she sounded on Morning Ireland on Tuesday, referring to Eoin Hayes’ Blackface fiasco as “hugely disappointing”. “He should have known better,” she offered, sounding as mortified as any parent apologising for their child’s behaviour in front of the school principal.