Top TV star Muireann O’Connell has lifted the lid on the struggle of trying to purchase her own home and admitted she "cannot afford to at the minute".
Like thousands nationwide, the Ireland AM presenter, who recently got engaged, said she and her fiance are still renting in Dublin as their dream of owning their own place one day is currently out of reach.
She told the Irish Mirror: “It’s been a series of unfortunate events. We are still renting, so being stuck in that and being like ‘oh my God, we’re so old. They’re never gonna give us a mortgage...'
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Laughing off the assumption that she has money just because she works on TV, she added: “I think that is hilarious. There definitely was, I think there was a time when there was money in it. Much more so in the UK than Ireland.
“No, I cannot afford to buy, not at the minute.
“But also, I probably haven’t put the head down to save as much as I should. So it’s also my own fault. It’s circular about that. And yeah, I didn’t.”
It comes as the Virgin Media star also sparked a debate online after taking to her social media to blast the current property market following a house viewing this week.
The Limerick native said: “I’m just after seeing a tiny ‘two bed’ ..it’s one bed and a wardrobe, with a starting price of €424,000.
“I forget I’m on a good wage sometimes cause stuff feels so unattainable and for single people - how the hell can they do this?
“I realise that I am unbelievably lucky to be in the situation I’m in and that others have it properly bad.
“Just really interested in who can/will buy those properties. Hello investment funds!”
Speaking at the launch of the Platinum VIP Style Awards, where she has been nominated as the Most Stylish Newcomer, the radio star turned TV host also told how she can never imagine feeling ‘secure’ due to the nature of the industry.
“It still, regardless of anything, it has still got a lifespan. You know, everyone chooses careers that have lifespan. So nowadays because it’s a gig economy, we never know what’s going to happen.
“But the idea of a job for life, I can’t even imagine that, like having security.
“So I don’t think that at all. If I can get a few more years out of this… like, I adore this, but I don’t know how long I will be the person that is right for the job as tastes change.”
However, the ex Today FM presenter, who has been vocal about her upset over her shock axing from the station in 2019, said she has never been happier in her work since focusing solely on TV.
“In hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” the 38-year-old said.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, because the way you feel about certain jobs… it was my first love, radio and audio is my first love. I fell in love with it and I was very lucky to work with it for as long as I did.
“But it’s like a loss. And then I was so lucky to have the Six O’Clock show.
“And to get to concentrate because I was doing two jobs at the same time, which was, you know, just fine, but it’s a lot of work.
“To kind of get to understand the minutiae of my job more, you know, the industry you know, what’s going on and they talk in a language so I’m like, ‘What’s that and now’, so I’m learning
“It’s really been amazing, because I don’t understand it in the way like, Karen Koster does.
“To hear Karen Koster on the shoot, what she does, because she’s a producer as well, like when you’re out with cameras.
“I don’t have that level of knowledge. But it’s been really lovely to get my teeth stuck in it.
“I really love it. I’m very lucky.”
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