INTERVIEW: In conversation with Aoibhinn Ní­ Shúilleabháin

Celebrity Múinteoir


Interview
Edwin McGreal

HOW many of you have ever despaired at the thought of teaching a group of highly hormonal teenagers? The mere idea of trying to impress on them the importance of algebra, the elements of the periodic table in science or graiméir as Gaeilge while they are more concerned with wondering aloud about who should be eliminated from Big Brother is enough to make you give thanks daily for not having to endure such a vocation.
Imagine trying all that, and then add into the mix that you are a celebrity teacher. You first came to prominence when you won the Rose of Tralee in 2005 and since then you have carved out for yourself a few high-profile TV gigs in tandem with your studies and now your teaching role.
Along with your involvement in the first season of Celebrity Bainisteoir and presenting work on travel show No Frontiers you have regularly appeared on RTÉ’s The Panel with comedians Neil Delamere, Colm Murphy and Andrew Maxwell. Some of the risqué material carried on TV one evening could make you cannon fodder for your students the following day.
Add in a relationship with RTÉ golden boy Ryan Tubridy and you can imagine how difficult it would be to get your pupils to concentrate on their curriculum.
Welcome to the world of Aoibhinn Ní ShúilleabhΡin. The Carnacon native has been a busy lady since her Rose success, but she has kept up her studies and, subsequently, her teaching role in tandem with the glamour of her lateral celebrity status.
And she’s actually enjoying her teaching role, giddy teenagers or not, nearly as much as her higher profile TV work.
”I’m really enjoying the teaching though and I love it,” she told The Mayo News. “It is my primary post at the moment … I’m working on TV on top of that, when I can. I love TV and if the right job came along I would take it, but I’m very happy teaching at the moment.”
And what about being a sitting duck for today’s generation of celebrity-mad young men and women at her place of work in Tallaght?
“I love the subjects, so it’s great. Teenagers have much more to worry about than their teacher! We do chat about it alright, have a bit of banter, but they’re cool with it,” admits Aoibhinn, who teachers maths, the sciences and some Irish.
Her latest TV work will run during the summer, so her students will have to have longer memories than most teenagers if she is to be chided about it next September.
The Reel Deal went to air for the first time last Friday on RTÉ 1, and it will consist of seven programmes. Recorded last summer, the show is described as ‘an upbeat traditional music series with a contemporary twist’. Aoibhinn is one of three presenters – the others being Brian O’Connell and BlΡthnaid Ní Dhonnchadha.
For Aoibhinn, a person who has a great love for the traditional-music genre and is a long-time member of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the chance to present such a programme appealed to her on a lot of levels.
“I loved filming for The Reel Deal. The three of us all have a great passion and and we’re meeting people with a huge passion … it is great to be able to bring it to a wider audience.
“Trad music has gone a bit more mainstream in recent years,” she continues. “There has been a growth in popularity, in much the same way as the Irish language. We try to encourage and promote it because there is a wealth of talent out there – talent that is of an international standard – that a lot of people might not be aware of.”
Aoibhinn, who has recently finished her Higher Diploma in Education in Trinity College, is keeping her options open about what direction her career will go in next. TV work is something she has a clear passion for, but teaching is not far behind either.
”My plans? Well it (television) is a very volatile industry at the moment. I know the direction I want to go in. I would really like to see myself presenting an educational or science-based show, and perhaps a traditional music show because these are areas I really love.
“All that being said, if I’m not able to get something, I am quite happy to continue teaching. I really value education and I love being involved in the system. As well as the teaching, I have a few other things that I will be working on. I’m working in the Science Gallery in Trinity, and I’ll be presenting the BT Young Scientist with Ray D’arcy. I really enjoy doing this type of work, in maths and the sciences, and I’ll do as much of it as I can.”