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Irish Country Living’s interview with Frances Black is on the same day mindfulness classes are introduced to Dáil Éireann.
The senator was instrumental in arranging this elective for both Oireachtas members and Leinster House staff. She speaks with us on the phone from her Kildare Street office following the engagement.
In the midst of Brexit, strike action and overspend pressures, Frances feels that taking a few minutes to recentre thoughts will benefit not only all involved, but also society at large.
“If we here in the Oireachtas could get an understanding of mindfulness and the importance of it in everyday life, well hopefully then we can set up a cross-party Oireachtas group around mindfulness, where it can spread into other aspects of society.
"We could maybe introduce it into schools, introduce it into workplaces.”
Music, it’s who I am, it’s part of my identity
Much of Frances’s time at present is taken up with her political work, but she hasn’t forgotten where her voice was initially heard, singing.
When she was first elected to the Seanad the plan was to put music on the backburner.
But, such is the Dubliner’s love of singing, that proved impossible and now she combines both elements of her career.
Her strategy is to be in Leinster House during the week and gig at the weekends, while avoiding touring outside Ireland.
“Music, it’s who I am, it’s part of my identity. I don’t look forward to the day, if ever, I have to walk away from it.
"I don’t think I ever could, because it’s part of my spirit, so I hope that day never comes.”
Black is the colour
The willingness to merge both elements of her career is no surprise really, considering Frances is a member of one of Ireland’s strongest musical dynasties, the Black family. The stories of the Blacks’ musical home are renowned.
Frances and her sister Mary Black are both stars in their own right and their children are making a serious go of it on the scene too. Frances’s daughter Aoife Scott is an up-and-coming talent, Mary’s son Danny O’Reilly is the frontman of The Coronas and her daughter Róisín O is a well-established singer-songwriter too.
Growing up, despite being steeped in song, Frances never considered a career in music.
“We come from very working class Dublin, we were surviving if you know what I mean. It was only when I was in my mid-20s that I started singing professionally. I had two children when I joined a traditional band, Arcady.
“After that I went out and did some gigs with Kieran Goss, we made an album.
"Before I knew it there were songs taken off the Arcady album and the Frances Black and Kieran Goss album to be placed on A Woman’s Heart. That just went through the roof.”
Following A Woman’s Heart, Frances landed a record deal.
Her 1994 album Talk to Me went to number one for 10 weeks. The start of a long and illustrious music career.
Overcoming obstacles
Frances’s musical journey is something special to follow, but so too is her personal journey. She hasn’t drank in over 31 years.
At one point when her children were young she says that she drank in a problematic way.
But now, with the benefit of hindsight, Frances feels that overcoming this has created great opportunities for her.
I’m grateful that I learned quite quickly that alcohol just didn’t suit me
“I kind of look back in gratitude in the sense that it was a very short period of my life where I felt I drank in a harmful way, but I stopped drinking in 1988, that’s 31 years ago.
“I don’t think I would be where I am today if I had continued,” says Frances earnestly.
“I’m grateful that I learned quite quickly that alcohol just didn’t suit me, because I feel I’m living a life now that’s beyond my wildest dreams to be honest with you.
“Amazing things have happened in my life because I didn’t drink. When I was going to school I never dreamed that I was ever going to be working in Leinster House as a senator. I mean that’s just crazy stuff, because I left school when I was quite young.
“I genuinely believe all of that stuff happened because I didn’t drink. It was the instigator for me to step into a life of freedom. That’s the only way I can describe it, it’s freedom for me.”
Rise up
A number of years after giving up alcohol, Frances went back to college to study addiction. She trained and worked in the Rutland Treatment Centre, where the idea first came to her to set up the Rise Foundation, a charity that supports the families of people with an alcohol, drug or gambling problem.
“I remember watching a young woman walking out the gates of the Rutland, her husband was being treated for gambling and she had two small kids with her. She was so lost, all she really thought about is, how I am going to fix him?” explains Frances.
“She was so obsessed almost with fixing him that she couldn’t be present to herself or her children. So she was as lost as he was, that’s why I set up Rise. She was the inspiration, because I felt, why doesn’t she have her own team of therapists? Why doesn’t she have her own group therapy?”
It was because of Frances’s work with Rise that she decided to run for the Seanad in 2016, being elected on the industrial and commercial panel. The senator admits that at times it can be hard to get her issues on the political agenda.
“I just can’t believe I was so naïve before I came in here as to how it all works. I suppose I have a great understanding of it now. I was very much involved in the Public Health Alcohol Bill. Even though it was legislation introduced by the Government, I was able to explain the importance of the bill because of my work with Rise and because of the work I would have done outside of here.”
Frances has ruled out running as a TD in the next general election, but says she will be seeking re-election to the Seanad, hoping to show that her political voice can match the strength of her singing voice.
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