Interview with Bairbre McDonagh recorded in Leeds on 25.06.2019

Bairbre was born in Dublin in 1971 and grew up in Limerick, the second of four siblings. She describes how she was compared to her older sister and how both at school and at home she was made to feel not clever enough. Outside school she learned music and was good at sport. She reflects on family life and the role of her mother as homemaker. After her Leaving Certificate exams she attended Dublin Institute of Technology and then completed her studies in London. She describes how she was keen to leave Limerick but also enjoyed meeting up with friends on her return and going clubbing in Limerick. While studying in London she made some good friends and met her husband. Her first holiday in Ireland with him prompted an awkward conversation about sex with her mother which she tried found embarrassing. Once her course finished she started working in London and eventually recruited her boyfriend (now husband) to the same company.