‘I am very grateful for my story’ – Michelle O’Neill reveals ‘joyous’ feeling of being a granny

The Sinn Féin vice president will appear in her first podcast as First Minister on The DIGG Podcast, with its founder Caroline O’Neill.

Caroline is from Coalisland, the neighbouring town to Michelle’s native rural village of Clonoe, and the mum-of-three has over 200,000 followers on her social media platforms, where she posts about lifestyle, business and family life, as well as charity fundraisers.

In the in-depth interview, which will be released at 8pm on Thursday, Michelle talks about her own personal life, and how she ‘takes care of herself’ amidst her busy political career.

“With great difficulty,” she jokes.

“I made myself a promise whenever I came into this role that I would try to get that balance right.

“You need some time in the week to just be with your family, to de-stress and come down a wee bit; to connect with people again.

“For me, I do that with walking. When I can, I get out to walk.

“I used to do the gym — a lot more than I’m doing at the minute if I’m being honest.

“I love to cook and that’s actually how I de-stress. My family actually laughs at me, because whenever I’ve had a very, very busy week, I like to cook for them all.

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“There’s nothing I won’t cook, but I love to barbecue. I even like to barbecue in winter.

“I’m a grandparent too, so there’s nothing more joyous than that, I have to say.

“If you need to recharge the battery, then a wee snuggle there doesn’t do any harm.”

The Mid Ulster MLA continues: “I’m a mummy, I’m a granny, I’m a daughter, I’m a sister, I’m a partner. I am all of those things, just like everybody else and I’m trying to manage all of those things in life, but I’m not unique in that way.

“I might have a different job to everybody else, but we all struggle. All you can do is just keep yourself in check.”

Ms O’Neill, a former teenage mother, also chats about how she has “learned” confidence throughout her career.

“If I look at myself in my first year in my first ever public speaking role when I was in council for example, way back in 2005, the person you would’ve heard then and the person you hear today is completely different… night and day. I don’t think any of us are ever born confident, I think you learn over the years.

“My advice all the time, particularly to young people, in terms of confidence is to push yourself outside your comfort zone a wee bit every day.

“Think of something that makes you just that wee bit anxious and push yourself to do it.”

Key areas discussed in the episode include her priorities as a political leader, including the need for more affordable childcare, Lough Neagh’s environmental problems, healthcare waiting lists, the current underfunding of the Executive, support for local businesses and the A5 road upgrade.

She adds: “I am very grateful for my story, because it’s helped me be the understanding person that I think I am today.”

Michelle also noted that social media can be beneficial for politicians to relate with their voters, as often people just see "headlines" and "sound bites" which “are not the full story”, but she was definitive in her response to online trolls.

"You wouldn't allow people to speak to you the way they do on social media if you met them in person, so I would just 'block block block'.

The podcast with First Minister Michelle O’Neill is available from April 25 at 8pm on Apple, YouTube and Spotify.