In his day job hosting Liveline, Joe Duffy has found his calling as the nation’s quasi-official misery uncle. Ripped off by your airline? A parking dispute with the neighbours? Nudity in Normal People posing a clear and present danger to Irish civilisation? Duffy is there for you – the human pain sponge at whom you can direct all your frustration.
He cuts an altogether different figure as presenter of The Meaning of Life (RTÉ One), a Sunday night curio inherited from the late Gay Byrne, where Duffy is allowed to demonstrate a more empathic side – an aspect of his personality not necessarily on show when Liveline listeners are shrieking into the void about the cost of Oasis tickets.
The Meaning of Live has the touchy-feely mission of asking profound questions about the big issues: spirituality, ambition, the existence of god. Its new season opens with an interview with Sinéad Burke, a writer, advocate, and accessibility consultant from Dublin.
Burke has appeared on the cover of UK Vogue and has achondroplasia – a genetic disorder which affects the length of the arms and legs. She is a thoughtful and heartfelt communicator. Unfortunately, The Meaning of Life does itself a disservice by not telling us more about her – by committing the cardinal sin of assuming the average listener is already up to speed on Burke’s career.
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But unless you’re a dedicated fashion follower, that may not necessarily be the case. She is a well-known figure – though only to a point. In his introductory voice-over, Duffy tells us that she is CEO of Tilting the Lens – but what is that? I had to look it up, and it turns out that it is an international consulting team that advises brands such as Gucci and Starbucks on disability inclusion. It isn’t detective work, but why is it left up to the viewer to fill in the blanks?
None of that is Burke’s fault, however, and she speaks with great passion about her experiences. She recalls how she had to give up going out while in college because strangers would think it hilarious to pick her up – hurtful and also dangerous. “People, if they had a few drinks, would behave very poorly. I didn’t like it,” she says, adding that she found acceptance in the drag community that congregated at the George pub in Dublin.
She also revealed that, after she had qualified as a teacher, some school principals would conclude she could not teach to a sufficiently high standard because of her disability. And she talks about the sexism within the fashion industry, observing that she is trivialised “not only because I’m small but because I’m a woman”.
Duffy interviews her in the style of a father confessor, speaking softly and smiling blankly. To her huge credit, Burke has remained optimistic. She feels that her experiences, positive and negative, have made her the person she is today – that overcoming obstacles has benefited her in the long run.
“The light is brighter because of the grey and the dark,” she says – a coda that can serve as a watchword to us all, regardless of circumstances. She is a great interviewee – it’s just a shame Duffy and her team don’t do a better job of bringing context to her life and times.
