IMAGE The Motherload

Karen Clince became a mum at just 21. Around the same time, she began building what would eventually become one of Ireland's largest childcare businesses. More than two decades later, Tigers Childcare cares for thousands of children and employs hundreds of people, and this year Karen sold a majority stake in the business in a deal reported to be worth up to €75 million. Behind that extraordina...

How do we raise children who can handle hard things, without leaving them to handle those things alone? In this special live episode of IMAGE The Motherload, recorded at Avoca Rathcoole, Dominique is joined by psychotherapist and bestselling author Dr Joanna Fortune, play therapist Lisa Kennedy, and mums Rosanna Davison and Sinéad O'Moore for an honest and practical conversation about raising...

Hazel Chu has spent much of her public life breaking barriers. As the first Irish-born person of Chinese heritage to serve as Lord Mayor of Dublin and now deputy leader of the Green Party, she has faced racism, abuse and scrutiny while fighting for a more equal Ireland. But in this deeply personal episode of IMAGE The Motherload, Hazel joins Dominique to talk about the experiences that have shaped...

In this week’s episode of IMAGE The Motherload, Mary Kennedy joins Dominique for a beautiful conversation about motherhood, ambition, loss, marriage and separation, ageing, grandmotherhood and the many times in life we get to begin again. Mary Kennedy has spent decades on Irish television, but behind her remarkable broadcasting career is a life shaped by a willingness to keep beginning again. In t...

Louise Cooney has shared her life online for more than a decade, but in this episode of IMAGE The Motherload, you will hear a side of her you may not have heard before. Now mum to two-year-old Jude and pregnant with her second child, Louise joins Dominique at a fascinating moment in her life, as she prepares to become a mum of two. Here, Louise opens up about how she is feeling during her second p...

Broadcaster, documentary maker, podcaster and mum of two Síle Seoige joins Dominique for a beautifully open conversation about the experiences that have shaped her. From pregnancy loss and thyroid cancer to anxiety, motherhood, marriage and a career spent in the public eye, Síle reflects on the highs and lows of her life with extraordinary perspective. They talk about becoming a mum later in life,...

For Maria Walsh, motherhood didn't begin with a positive pregnancy test. It began with therapy, difficult decisions, IVF and choosing to build a family on her own terms. In this deeply personal conversation, the Fine Gael MEP joins Dominique to discuss her journey to solo motherhood through IVF and sperm donation, and why she believes Ireland still has a long way to go in supporting modern fam...

Writer, broadcaster, author, grandmother and now stand-up comedian, Barbara joins Dominique this week for a funny, wise and refreshingly honest conversation about why getting older might just be the greatest gift of all. Together they discuss becoming a comedian at 60, the surprising freedom that comes after menopause, why women should stop apologising for their anger, and the joy of caring a litt...

Lisa Wilkinson has spent almost three decades standing beside women. A barrister specialising in family law and coercive control, she has also been an entrepreneur, doula, yoga teacher, childcare provider and wellbeing pioneer. While those careers may seem worlds apart, they are all driven by one purpose: making women's lives safer, healthier and fairer. In this powerful episode of IMAGE The M...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique sits down with one of the most influential figures in modern Irish history, Ailbhe Smyth. As Ailbhe celebrates her 80th birthday, she reflects on a life spent challenging injustice, campaigning for equality, and helping to shape the Ireland we live in today. Together they discuss motherhood in 1970s Ireland, surviving some of the darkest periods of her...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique sits down with entrepreneur, beauty founder and mother-of-three Kim O'Sullivan. Today, Kim is the founder of Brow Aid and The Dublin Makeup Academy, but her journey began as a young single mother determined to build a better future for her son. In this inspiring conversation, Kim reflects on the challenges of early motherhood, the leap of faith that...

What happens when motherhood doesn't just change your life, but changes your nervous system? This week, Dominique McMullan is joined by psychotherapist Michelle Flynn, who specialises in maternal mental health, perinatal anxiety, birth trauma and somatic therapy. Together they explore matrescence, the profound identity shift that accompanies motherhood, and why so many women feel unprepared for th...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique is joined by Laura O’Connell, a familiar face to many as the creator behind the viral Irish midwife sketches on Instagram, and co-host of the podcast Oh Right, Yeah. In this episode, Laura shares the story behind the humour. She opens up about growing up in a religious group, the loss of her mother at a young age, and how those early experiences shaped...

Jen Healy’s story is not an easy one to hear, but it is an important one. In this episode of IMAGE The Motherload, Jen shares her journey from a childhood shaped by violence, through addiction, abusive relationships and homelessness, to the life she has built today as a mother, business owner and advocate for women’s mental health. This is a conversation about survival, but more importantly, it’s...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique  is joined by psychotherapist, bestselling author and parenting expert Dr Joanna Fortune for a powerful conversation about the realities of raising children today. Together, they discuss the pressures modern parents are facing, from information overload and parental guilt to anxiety in children, screen time, emotional resilience and raising emotionally...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique is joined by Una Healy for a deeply honest conversation about the realities of modern motherhood. Together, they explore what it means to raise teenagers, the evolving relationship between mother and child, and the importance of “the village”.  Una opens up about her experience with anxiety, her Hashimoto’s diagnosis, and the turning point that came fro...

This is not about telling you who to vote for. It is a conversation about motherhood in a place we rarely hear it spoken about. This week on The Motherload, Dominique sits down with Holly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats and TD for Cork South West. Holly gave birth to her daughter on polling day in November 2024 and has since returned to one of the most demanding roles in the country, leadin...

Caroline Foran joins Dominique this week for an honest conversation about anxiety, motherhood and learning to let go. A bestselling author, journalist and podcaster, Caroline has spent years helping people better understand anxiety through practical, grounded advice. In this episode, she opens up about her own experience, from debilitating panic attacks in her twenties to being anxiety free today....

Standing in front of a jam-packed wardrobe… and still feeling like you have nothing to wear? In this special live episode of IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique is joined by stylist Courtney Smith, beauty columnist Triona McCarthy and artist Audrey Hamilton to unpack something so many of us have a tough time with… how to get dressed and feel bloody brilliant.  From the “nothing feels right” phase to d...

Author, maternal mental health advocate and mum of three Tracy Holmes joins Dominique this week for a conversation about motherhood, diagnosis and real resilience. Tracy is mum to three boys, including twins Harry and Freddie. Shortly after they were born, Freddie was diagnosed with Down syndrome. What followed was one of the most difficult periods of Tracy’s life. With one newborn at home and ano...

Psychologist, author and mum of three Dr. Clodagh Campbell joins Dominique this week, for one of the most personal conversations of the season. Dominique and Clodagh share powerful parallels in their lives. Both are adopted. Both lost their beloved fathers too early. Together they explore how adoption can shape identity across a lifetime and why questions around belonging often become louder once...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique sits down with Coleen Rooney for a real conversation about family life.  Coleen opens up about her childhood, the loss of her sister Rosie, her and Wayne’s experience of miscarriage, and occasionally shouting at the boys in McDonalds. She shares the brilliant chaos of raising four boys, the realities of parenting in the public eye, and why family is ult...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique is joined by Councillor Yemi Adenuga . Broadcaster, community organiser, mother of four and the first Black woman elected to public office in Ireland,  Their conversation covers Yemi’s extraordinary childhood as one of 27 children in Nigeria, her journey to Ireland, the realities of motherhood while building a public life, and the strength it takes to r...

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, beauty editor, content creator and mum of two Triona McCarthy joins Dominique for an honest and often very funny conversation about modern motherhood. Triona opens up about her ADHD diagnosis and how that shows up in her day-to-day life, the reality of parenting tweens, managing the mental load when your nervous system is already busy, navigating public visibilit...

In this deeply honest episode of IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique McMullan speaks with award winning podcast host and coach Laura Guckian about the reality behind modern motherhood. From her psychiatric hospital admission when her first baby was ten months old to her late diagnoses of autism and ADHD, Laura shares the moments that reshaped her life and her mission to support other mothers. Together...