We’re a nation of moaners but don’t like complaining, we enjoy slagging but can’t take a compliment, and we think we’re great, but not really. Seán Moncrieff’s new book focuses on the contradictory Irish but he is a fusion of ying and yang himself.

“A very good afternoon to you, it’s 1.30pm and you’re welcome to The Moncrieff Show on Newstalk.”

Cue the distinctive jazzy saxophones and trumpets of My Friend Jim, the on-air sign switching to green and the enthusiastic, confident voice of Seán Moncrieff booming across the nation’s airwaves. Three hours later, after everything from farming to wine, history books and extraordinary facts are discussed, the mic switches off and so does the on-air Seán. You see, Seán Moncrieff is quite a shy man, an introvert who admits to being dour and monosyllabic in real life.

“Broadcasting is a persona thing and I still get surprised when people stop me in the street and say: ‘Hi Seán, I love the show.’

“I almost have it rehearsed to mumble: ‘Thanks very much,’ and keep on walking because, in truth, it makes me very uncomfortable.”

Ying and Yang

Settle in to read Seán’s latest book, The Irish Paradox, and you realise that this is just the tip of his contradictory nature: a popular persona who doesn’t like the limelight, an Irish boy who grew up in England, a listener rather than a talker.

“Of course, I am very contradictory,” says Seán. “I consider myself Irish and I’ve got an Irish passport but I was born in England. However, growing up in London and then Swindon, we were surrounded by Irish people. I went to a Catholic school, my teachers were Irish – as was the priest. I was an altar boy and my sister did Irish dancing. And every summer we went ‘home’ for our holidays and everybody knew what that meant.

“My mother was determined for years to eventually move back, but when it did happen she was very unsettled. She wanted to return to the Ireland she had left in the 1940s, but it was three decades later and of course it didn’t exist any more.

“At that stage, she had spent most of her life in England, where I might add she had a general suspicion of the people there and was actually very English in her ways – quite reserved. Looking back, it was sad: she was tormented living in England but also tormented back home,” he says.

Limelight? No Thanks

Seán gives an entertaining account of his childhood in The Irish Paradox but don’t expect him to divulge too much of his own tale.

“This isn’t a memoir,” he laughs. “God No, who would read that?”

This comment isn’t just modesty though. Seán is determined to keep most of his private life just that.

“There are those with a certain level of fame and no matter what they do, it’s going to be in the press. But there are also people like myself – Z-list celebrities – who go looking for attention and if you do that, you can’t complain when the press intrude.”

Protecting his family is the main reason behind his decision.

“My kids would love to have been mentioned in the book, they would love to be on radio. Unfortunately though, people can be casually cruel. For example, I might interview a lovely person on the show but I will see these vile comments on Twitter, and they are based on nothing. Comments like: ‘That guy sounds annoying’, or my ultimate bugbear: ‘That girl sounds hot, what does she look like?’ I don’t want to expose my family to that.”

What Seán is delighted to divulge in the book is his observations on the Irish and their attitudes to religion, racism, politics and booze – basically all the ingredients that inevitably lead to a heated argument over a few pints in the pub.

Speaking of arguments, Seán’s book will have you laughing as you nod guiltily in agreement about the way we Irish have an old barney.

“We love moaning but we’re not confrontational. I think this is because historically we had an occupying power and realised it was best to be diplomatic if we were to feed the kids. So we have devised a way that even if you feel angry with someone, you never say it to them. You might give out to someone else about them or if you are saying it to their face, you say it in a snaky roundabout way, but it’s all hidden in terms that deflect the actual aggression.

“The same applies to politics. We won’t all hit the streets to protest but we’ll have a good whinge about it on Twitter, or of course ring Joe Duffy.”

Will We Ever Get it Right?

Speaking to the nation every day for three hours means Seán has a good grasp on how we get our head around the news of the day.

“It’s a contradictory fusion of dopey optimism and chronic fatalism. Most of the time we’re convinced we’ll never get it right. During the Celtic Tiger there was this sudden surge of confidence and we transformed into this self-assured nation. Mind you, I never believed it entirely.

“And then there was this big collapse and we realised that all this confidence wasn’t really us at all and, actually, we were right all along: we are terrible at managing things.

“So when the Government messes up or we have something like the Irish Water disaster, we accept it because we just expect it to happen. Changing seems like a mammoth task so we don’t bother.”

The rural-versus-urban debate also raises its head in the book and Irish Country Living editor Mairead Lavery has certainly given him an educated insight into life in the countryside with her Wednesday afternoon farming slot.

“There is a story in the book about me being a little queasy as a child when I saw a cow being slaughtered, but six years with Mairead doing the farming slot has definitely toughened me up,” he laughs.

In line with the contradictory theme, he says the farming slot is actually most popular with listeners who are in cities and have nothing to do with farming.

“I think it’s because the slot allows them to be reminiscent about their past or it’s a peek into another world.”

Seán himself has quite a unique take on the farming slot.

“The chats I enjoy most with Mairead are when she ties them into what is happening on farms at a certain time of the year, like weaning or harvesting. You get a very vivid picture of what’s going on.

“To be honest, I think it’s like a little soap opera. Farmers are on their own but they work with the animals who seem to have this group personality, to a degree. They have to keep an eye on everything, suss out if one fellow is looking a bit iffy or another is doing well. I find it quite fascinating. It’s farmers by themselves for a large part but negotiating all these live animals around them. All these little dramas are being played out but they have no one to speak to about it until they go home.”

And although Seán says that there is a stereotype that farmers are complainers, he doesn’t think they blow their own trumpet enough.

“Farming is the only indigenous industry that has survived the recession and then managed to thrive. Farmers need to shout about this a bit more and the rest of the country needs to support it.”

Well what do you think of that? Has Seán Moncrieff summed up the nation? Find out for yourself. His book is out now. CL