Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

TG4

Hector Ó hEochagáin: 'The day of fathers not doing a tap in the house is ending - we're different dads now'

Hector has been chatting to drivers in Nepal, Mary Lou McDonald – but not Tony Holohan – for a philosophical TV programme about lockdown.

HECTOR Ó hEOCHAGÁIN has noticed how nice his garden is for the first time.

He always knew he had a lovely garden – but being stuck in lockdown has crystallised just how nice his garden, and his home, really is.

“I am standing in my garden at 10 o’clock at night and I’m really happy that I have a nice garden. And I knew I had a nice garden, but I didn’t know how nice the garden was because I didn’t pay attention. Do you know what I mean?”

You might forgive Hector for not appreciating how nice his garden is. He’s usually abroad for three months of the year, filming in exotic places around the world as part of Hector Central, Hector i gCeanada, or Hector USA – Ó Chósta go Cósta. No flower bed can compare.

As part of his new show Hector Anseo, filmed from his shed in Galway and over Zoom, Hector chats to some of the people he’s met along these TG4 travel journeys, ordinary people around Ireland, as well as well-known names like economist David McWilliams, and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald.

“I stay in touch with an awful lot of the drivers who have driven us around,” he says.

“So today, I’m talking to a guy in Kathmandu and then I’m going live to Khartoum in Sudan, to talk to Nava who was our fixer – a young Muslim girl in Khartoum today and I want to find out about lockdown there.”

Being at home is no strange thing for the travel presenter, either. For the other nine months of the year when he wasn’t filming, he’d be manning the house – cooking the dinner, cleaning the house, or doing a wash.

“There’s a lot of stay-at-home dads, and I was one of those,” he says.

“And I like cooking the dinner, I like putting on a white wash and I like putting on a coloured wash, and I like hanging out the wash, and if it’s a good day for drying, I will make sure I might get two washes done.”

During the course of the debate about the Irish government’s handing of the coronavirus crisis, there’s been some suggestion that the response disproportionately impacts women, based on the assumption that women mainly mind the children in Irish households.

What does Hector make of that?

“I think the dads are more hands on than ever before in this country,” he says.

I just think the whole dynamic has changed in this country compared to what was in the ’80s or in the ’60s or whatever. We’re different dads now.

“Nine times out of ten most of the dads are working, but when they come home, that work doesn’t stop there. Not many mams or dads can afford to flop on the couch when they come in at 6pm.

I think the day of the father not doing a tap in the house is coming to an end. I think the day of a lad not pulling their weight in the house is few and far between in the modern day.

“I’m trying to be a good role model for my teenage boys, aged 14 and 15. I’m trying to show them, if the barbecue goes on, they do the cooking. They understand what it’s like to wash a few pots after Sunday dinner, which is complete and utter punishment.

“But they also see me doing it as well. And then sometimes I turn to them and I go, ‘Listen, I can’t do this all myself. So will you do the sitting room, and you do that room?’”

That’s the lesson for the kids. For adults, things become a bit more profound as Hector outlines two major things he thinks we’re going to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns.

The first thing Hector reckons is that the word ‘karma’, a word he puts a lot of faith in, will dominate the post-pandemic world.

We thought that this was a Chinese problem in January, and like the majority of the world, we thought that this was over in China, the other side of the world.
I think people will realise that we are on one planet – that because something happens there, [doesn't mean] it’s not our problem.

“And I think that’s a really good thing in a way that we realise we have to mind Co Galway, Co Meath. We have to mind China, we have to mind Kazakhstan. We have to mind Tunisia and Honduras because we’re all the same.” 

The second thing he thinks may change, or that we might learn, is a new way to work.

“I think [this is] going to give people the opportunity to get off the wheel and say, ‘I can work from home’. Hopefully we’ll be allowed to work from home two days a week, so that’ll have a knock on effect with stress levels, and all the anxiety that comes with the 6AM, get the kids dressed, get the kids to school, get this, get that, and get into your job in middle management and management pushing people to be in by eight o’clock to get their jobs done.

I just think it’s a reset but there’s a big reset button being pushed, and I think we’ve a chance. 

TG4 / YouTube

As part of Hector’s new show, on TG4 at 9.30pm on Thursdays, he aims to talk to people about how lockdown is – but it won’t focus on the pandemic.

There’s a nice mixture of good chat and earthiness and sport and music – but there’s also talking to a B&B owner in Inis Mór to see how life is there.
Then there’s also a live link to a Bean an Tí in Connemara, who should have 16 boys in her college this year, but for the first time ever the summer colleges are not going to happen.
Then we’re going to a postman, then over to a lady in Kerry. The women of the country, the roots of their hair have been in decimated and destroyed for the last 10 weeks, so she’s now putting together all the mixes and the dyes and the customers drive through the hair salon at her house, she opens the bedroom window and her customers take the dye.

“I spoke to chip shop owners and pub owners all over the country and ice cream van owners and I’m talking to a lot of ordinary people,” he says, adding that in the middle of all that will be profound chats with Tommy Tiernan, Dean Rock and his father, Danny from the Coronas, and Gavin James.

“I’m trying to get a little bit philosophical with all these people just to give us a window of what lockdown is like.”

He says he deliberately didn’t ask Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan on the show.

“I wanted to give him a break,” he says. 

If you want to watch the six-part programme Hector Anseo, it’s on TG4 at 9.30pm on Thursdays, starting tomorrow. 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
36 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Connoroconner
    Favourite Connoroconner
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:03 AM

    For many of us, those days ended years ago, Hector. Welcome to the 21st century.

    265
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute WiseUp
    Favourite WiseUp
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:45 AM

    @Connoroconner: Exactly what I was thinking…..this clown is years behind.
    Stupid article and message

    141
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Matt Humphries
    Favourite Matt Humphries
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 9:08 AM

    @Connoroconner: he’s about 40 years too late with this.

    112
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael O'Neill
    Favourite Michael O'Neill
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 9:19 AM

    @Connoroconner: That’s what I was going to post but when you read his quote he says that the dads today aren’t the same as the dads in the 80s or 60s. True enough and not earth shattering journalistic work by the Journal. He was stating the bleeding obvious. The Journal decided to write an article on it.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jono
    Favourite Jono
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 7:00 AM

    Rte rolling out the A-listers..thats just what this lockdown was missing, a dose of hector!

    134
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute my name
    Favourite my name
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 7:42 AM

    @Jono: it’s not on RTE Jono says so in the article. I’ll definitely be watching Hector anyway. He’s a good lad

    113
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jono
    Favourite Jono
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:10 AM

    @my name: tg4 is rte !

    38
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sal Paradise
    Favourite Sal Paradise
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:23 AM

    @Jono: TG4 is independent of RTE.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute my name
    Favourite my name
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:27 AM

    @Jono: what @Sal said

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jono
    Favourite Jono
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 11:16 AM

    @my name: who cares, its still hector on tv

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Ryan
    Favourite Sean Ryan
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:10 AM

    Do people, especially now, want to watch COVID-19 based programmes? Maybe on Reeling in the Years in 20 years time but right now I’ve pandemic fatigue. I’d even take Fair City over another covid show (and that’s saying a lot!)

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tommy C
    Favourite Tommy C
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 4:13 PM

    @Sean Ryan: nah jesus give me the covid show

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute herp
    Favourite herp
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:02 AM

    Raa hooo raaa hooo raaaa hooo

    62
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute deisecelt
    Favourite deisecelt
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:25 AM

    I’m a father and I did a tap in the house years ago….it was leaking…the woman cooked me a nice dinner while I was doing it then I went down the local and drowned meself in porter.

    79
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Roger Dawson
    Favourite Roger Dawson
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 3:29 PM

    @deisecelt: So a thought crossed your mind?
    Must have been a lonely journey.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute deisecelt
    Favourite deisecelt
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 3:31 PM

    @Roger Dawson: you’ve lost me there Roger

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan Hoey
    Favourite Brendan Hoey
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 9:13 AM

    20 years out of touch is hectic hector

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mr T
    Favourite Mr T
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:45 AM

    Wow Hector, you must have been living in a hole in the ground. Congratulations on your arrival into the real world!

    64
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daithi De Roiste
    Favourite Daithi De Roiste
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 7:53 AM

    A sad day for traditional Daddies

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michelle Mc Namara
    Favourite Michelle Mc Namara
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 7:52 AM

    What a waste ! He can speak for himself in my experience I beg to differ.

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tommy D
    Favourite Tommy D
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:03 AM

    @Michelle Mc Namara: Ah don’t beg it diminishes your fantastic point.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary N. Cooke
    Favourite Mary N. Cooke
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:59 AM

    Yup, its definitely 2020, I checked…

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergal Pigat
    Favourite Fergal Pigat
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 11:06 AM

    Welcome, things changed Hector like 40 years ago Bud, always some outliers ! You

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Fitzgibbons
    Favourite Tom Fitzgibbons
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 8:33 AM

    How do you do a tap? Hector I presume you mean fix a tap even though most modern taps can’t be fixed as they are enclosed units so maybe you mean replace a tap?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute michael dunne
    Favourite michael dunne
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 12:05 PM

    Some dose!

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Byrne
    Favourite Alan Byrne
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 9:11 AM

    Speak for yourself, I am lazier than ever.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Life in no motion
    Favourite Life in no motion
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 10:35 AM

    Hector San Attic

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ed
    Favourite Ed
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 3:12 PM

    That show sounds awful to me.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gina Carroll
    Favourite Gina Carroll
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 7:25 AM

    Irish or English?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lorcan O'Neill
    Favourite Lorcan O'Neill
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 2:16 PM

    Speak for yourself !

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Matthew O'Kane
    Favourite Matthew O'Kane
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 10:17 AM

    Yeah i agree and with the schools out more than ever ur partners got double that pressure, jump in!

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Beulah Donohoe
    Favourite Beulah Donohoe
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 5:04 PM

    Are they??

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John B
    Favourite John B
    Report
    May 20th 2020, 5:53 PM

    Jackass.

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds