Pippa O’Connor wants Irish women to stop being embarrassed about having a cleaner or child minder.
The POCO founder was speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio One about her second book, The Pippa Guide, when he questioned her about people being embarrassed about having hired help – something she discusses in her book.
The mum-of-two explained that some of her friends have tried to excuse getting a cleaner, by saying things like, “Oh yeah, I sometimes get a cleaner, now it’s only once a fortnight mind you, and I forgo the couple of coffees a week.”
Pippa said: “And I’m just like, why are you trying to explain to me why you have a cleaner? You’re entitled to if you want!”
“If you’re busy with your kids or you’re busy studying or you’re out working all the time, if you want to do that, go ahead.”
“I think it’s a real Irish thing where we pretend that we can do everything, and people always say to me, ‘Jesus Pippa you do it all,’ and I’m like, ‘No I don’t, don’t say that to me!'”
Pippa explained: “I have an amazing team at work, I have an amazing girl [who minds] my kids, you know, I think we all have to give ourselves a break, especially with women in Ireland.”
When asked why she thinks people have such an issue with it, Pippa said: “I don’t know. And you know, aren’t you doing a good thing by giving employment?”
“I think it’s an old age thing, where maybe it was our mums and our mum’s mum’s, they did everything. They were amazing at bringing up seven kids, keeping the home amazing, cooking amazing meals.”
“But you know, times have changed and I think we should be less apologetic of what we do to make our unit work. Everyone just needs to do what works for you, and be unapologetic about it,” she added.
Pippa’s comments could be an indirect response to Doireann Garrihy’s impression of her in her sketch series, The Doireann Project.
In the series, Doireann places her ‘Pippa’ character in an immaculate house, as she attempts to hide her ‘secret cleaner’ from the background of her Instagram Stories.
