Broadcaster Lorraine Keane: “I’m a spender. Peter jokes that I thought I had to single-handedly spend Ireland’s way out of the recession” (2024)

Lorraine Keane is an IFTA-nominated Irish broadcaster and businesswoman. She began her career as the voice of AA Roadwatch before entering the world of entertainment, where she worked as a reporter for more than ten years, anchoring TV3’s Xposé for two years, and reporting from red carpets around the globe for the channel. As an entrepreneur, Keane founded Fashion Relief, a fundraising initiative with Oxfam Ireland. During lockdown she developed her first product, the Magic Hair Brush, with Irish hairdresser Matt Malone. Originally from Rathfarnham, Keane, 50, lives in Dublin with her husband, musician Peter Devlin, and their two teenage daughters, Emelia and Romy.

How much is in your wallet?
Twenty-five cents. I rarely use cash since the pandemic, and our girls have [the money management app] Revolut, so we just give them their allowance that way. I always have emergency cash in the car, though, in case I need it for a tip. I feel sorry for people working in cafés these days because it’s all takeaway and people usually pay by card or app, so they are not getting as many tips. Having worked at all sorts of jobs as a teenager, I know how important tips are.

Do you use any payment apps?
Yes, I find Revolut and the wallet app on my phone really handy — once I don’t lose or forget my phone.

Are you a saver or a spender?
I’m a spender. Peter jokes that I thought I had to single-handedly spend Ireland’s way out of the recession. I’m not actually that bad, but he’s a man — so enough said!

How much did you earn last year?
Last year was such a worry as I am self-employed, but Peter started working with an amazing online TV platform, Video Elephant, at the start of 2020, so we were very lucky. I managed to keep myself busy by getting my charity, Fashion Relief, online. With the help of Irish tech firm Axonista, we continued to raise money for Oxfam Ireland’s projects throughout the pandemic with a TV show I present from my home.

Have you ever been broke?
Oh yes. I remember working as an AA Roadwatch reporter from the age of 18, earning 7,000 Irish pounds (€8,890) per year. That was fine until I moved out of my parents’ house and bought my first house when I was 20. I used to work every second weekend answering calls in the [AA Ireland] rescue centre from 5pm to 7am — it was time and a half up to midnight and double time from midnight to 7am — to supplement my income. I would be the only person in the old five- storey building on Dublin’s Suffolk Street from 1am, and I’d be petrified but I needed the money. It also made me really appreciate my weekends off.

What was your first job?
I’ve worked packing shelves in a toy shop, washing hair in a salon, and as a sales assistant in a couple of newsagents and chain stores. I was babysitting since I was 12 (I’m the second eldest of seven children) and babysat for other people’s kids from the age of 15. I’ll do anything to keep busy and earn.

What has been your most lucrative job?
My first product, the Magic Hair Brush, has been really successful and great fun. It’s nice being an entrepreneur, but the thing that I have worked hardest at and that has paid off, but for charity, is Fashion Relief. We have raised close to €400,000 in less than three years, including the pandemic. That is my proudest work to date.

When did you first feel wealthy?
When Romy was about six or seven, she asked me were we rich. She had a friend whose parents were wealthy. I told her we were comfortable, and that Mum and Dad worked really hard. I loved her reply and think about it until this day — she said: “I think we are rich in happiness, Mum.” And we are — happy, healthy and blessed.

Do you own a property?
Yes. Peter and I bought our current home [in Dublin’s Monkstown] in 2002/3. It was in eight flats, and we converted it back to a house, pretty much ourselves. I adore renovating, interior architecture and interior design. This house is my fourth renovation.

Are you better off than your parents?
I don’t know how my parents managed to rear, educate and spoil seven of us through two recessions in the 1980s. My dad is a full-time musician but was also a property developer before there was such a thing. He bought and renovated properties on the side — it was his hobby. I guess that’s where I get it from. Mum was full-time at home with seven children and no help, just us older ones. She also worked really hard. We had a lot of luxuries growing up, lived in beautiful homes, went on incredible holidays, but we knew that Mum and Dad worked extremely hard for all of it.

Do you invest in anything?
Any time I’ve invested in shares, I’ve lost my shirt, so never again. Art, on the other hand, is something I’ve always loved. I bought my first painting at the age of 20 from the Apollo Gallery on Dawson Street — another reason to have to work overtime! The owner, Hugh Charlton, a kind older gentleman, allowed me to buy it “on the drip” and to take it home. I gave him 100 Irish pounds a month for 12 months. I bought most of my earlier paintings from Hugh this way. I still have and love them all.

What is better for retirement, property or pension?
I would always say property. I like bricks and mortar. Even if property goes down in value, over enough time it should come back up. I don’t like handing over my money to anyone else to control. I’ve heard too many stories of people losing big chunks of their pension or it not being worth what it should be.

What has been your best investment?
My homes. I always bought “doer-uppers”, no matter how small, but in great locations, renovated them and made money on the resale.

And the worst?
Shares. And after this pandemic, possibly a wardrobe full of heels I may never wear again. I mean there are a lot of heels!

What is the most extravagant thing you have bought?
See above — the shoes.

What is your money weakness?
See above again — the shoe bit!

What is your financial priority?
Paying our mortgage and having enough money to educate our daughters through school and college.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
The first thing I’d do is give a lot of it away, to family, friends and charity. It would be great to give everyone a little help, take the pressure off. Then I’d start my own fashion label, and finally, I’d travel all over the world.

Do you support any charities?
Apart from Fashion Relief with Oxfam, I am an ambassador for the Make a Wish Foundation and Breast Cancer Ireland, and I also help the Marie Keating Foundation, Spinal Injuries Ireland and Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

If you were the minister for finance, what one thing would you change?
I would insist on gender pay equality and, on the subject of wages, that nurses and midwives get paid more for the incredible lifesaving work they do.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?
It’s not the most important thing in the world and certainly doesn’t guarantee happiness, but as a volunteer in the developing world, I’ve seen that it’s a lot better to have it than to be without it.

Lorraine Keane’s Fashion Relief Pop-Up shop is now open at the Frascati Centre, Dublin. Visit @lorrainekeaneofficial on Instagram for more information

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