Donncha O’Callaghan might be a rugby legend, best-selling author, popular broadcaster and beloved TV fitness coach, but those accolades won’t buy him any favours when it comes to his children. He and his wife of 15 years, Jenny, share four children together, Sophie, 14, Anna, 12, Robin, 10 and nine-year-old Jake who love to keep him humble: “We were having a hurling game in the garden and I was the last pick!” Here, Donncha sits down with RSVP to update us on life after 2FM, his summer family plans, becoming the next David Walliams and returning to radio. Read more: Donncha O'Callaghan shares real reason for 2FM exit: 'I’m glad I’m out the other side' Read more: Conor Murray on picking baby names, where he and Joanna will raise the baby and ruling out retirement You released your first children’s book, Disaster Dad, last year – are there any plans for further books in the series? Yes, we’re not far off it. In fact, it’s not been announced yet but hopefully this autumn there’ll be Disaster Dad 2, which will be exciting. Very exciting. You could be the Irish version of David Walliams… [laughs] I could be! It’s so funny, we went into the launch of my book and my kids were begging me to get Jeff Kinney’s Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, the new one had just come out. I was like ‘give us a break’. They were like, ‘Dad, you’re not competing with him. He’s a superstar. They’re making movies about his book dad!’. But look, I did enjoy the kids’ book. It was a bit of fun because, and I’m not just saying this, my teammates are slagging that it is more true to life than my autobiography. They’re all true stories of silly things that have happened to me. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to do it because I know it’s quite fleeting when you’re in that phase of life with your kids where you see stuff like that and you document it. Isn’t it great with all your achievements your children can keep you humble… 100%. At halftime in the Cork match yesterday we were having a hurling game in the garden and I was the last pick! I went on two Lions tours and I’m in goal [laughs]. They know I’m not a quality hurler. Hilarious! Do you have any summer plans with the family this year? We will definitely get away for a bit, but I think, like the whole nation, no one’s really thought about it because the weather’s been so good at the moment. Normally, at this time of the year, I get nearly half depression about it being so miserable, but it’s been glorious the last while. There’s no place like Ireland when the sun is shining. Exactly, where else would you want to be? It could be very dangerous in time if this good weather keeps up because we’ve got everything. People that are good craic, you don’t have to pack up all the stuff and deal with airports. But we definitely will get away for a bit at some stage. We tend to go to Spain. We just love holidaying over there. I think they’ve nailed family really well. The best example I can give, we went out for dinner on the first night in Spain, and a load of kids started calling my little girl Robin over to play soccer with them. Then within two minutes the ball had hit the table and knocked loads of glasses and wine. The waiter just throws back the ball and drops down a few more bottles and everyone just gets on with it. They embrace chaos, that’s for me. Lots of families go on camping holidays over the summer, would that appeal to you? We’ve gone camping. Everyone loved it, bar me, of course. Jenny said she looked over at me at four in the morning and she could see the flash on my phone and she said, ‘Are you alright Donners?’ I was like, ‘Do you know there’s a hotel only 300 metres from here?’. But you do stuff for your kids, don’t you? We went to France and our kids came home with Tipperary accents. There were so many people from Tipp there that they were spending time with, playing soccer and between kids clubs, they all came back saying, ‘well boy’. I’m sure they made the best memories, what is it about camping that you don’t like? No, you’ve nailed it. I’m used to being so selfish being in a rugby environment. Now I finally realise it’s actually not about me. Once my kids have a good time, I shut up and suck it up and stay in the tent and enjoy it. They will have memories they’ll remember forever. So you want to at least buy into it being a bit of fun and not be such a diva. You finished up in 2FM last year, and you have your podcast with Tommy Bowe, but do you have any other plans to return to broadcasting? I miss it. More than anything I miss that group. We had a brilliant team and I miss them to bits. I was incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity. That’s more so because of Doireann [Garrihy] and Carl [Mullan]. Normally, everyone isn’t as helpful as they are. Especially Doireann, I don’t mean to single her out but she constantly had my back. Whereas Carl was leaving booby traps everywhere for me to make an eejit of myself. Listeners could tell there was a genuine friendship amongst the three of you. Yeah and it didn’t stop. We’re still chatting today because it’s Doireann’s birthday and she’s all ‘wowwee last year I got a Colin the Caterpillar cake and now I can’t even see ye’. Breakfast radio is renowned for its brutal early mornings, would you take that kind of schedule again? I don’t think you can fake being a morning person doing breakfast radio. You either are or you’re not. That’s why I look at Ian Dempsey and I nearly genuflect. What a machine and what an incredible hero to be doing it as long as he is. But I don’t miss the early hours. If I was [broadcasting from] Dublin, that’s a three o’clock start. If I was [broadcasting from] Cork, it’s five. I was getting a slagging from my kids because there’s a thing called ‘parent on deck’ at their swimming session. A parent has to be there to help out. Any time I was the parent on deck, I was falling asleep due to being up early and the heat of the swimming pool. I’d imagine the lack of sleep does start to take a toll on you. It definitely does. It’s funny I started to wear glasses because my eyes were playing up on me a little bit. I thought at 46, it was just me getting older. But after three weeks of not doing the breakfast show, I realised it was just maybe fatigue levels. Tell us about your involvement with Tesco’s Stronger Starts Cooks programme. I’m delighted to be involved with it. It’s a new, free six-week programme delivered to about 3,000 students in 42 primary schools across Ireland. They’ll get to experience different things like cooking lessons and learn nutritional awareness, even things like food safety. I was shocked to see that 92% of parents would welcome more food education within primary school. It’s a great life-skill to be able to cook. I know with our own crowd at home, the kitchen can be a good classroom, even just chatting about budgeting or food waste and the importance of different things in terms of nutrition. It sounds like an incredible opportunity for fifth class students to get involved and have some fun. And they finish it off with a trip to a Tesco shop, which is always going to be a bit of craic. Do you have any picky eaters in your house? Ours go through swings, where they want something constantly or they go off something else. Like all of us, it’s about trying to find the balance, isn’t it? I always find when you educate at primary school level, it can actually affect the whole house. So that’s what I love about this program. It’s great to have an initiative that makes it a bit more accessible and makes kids question things. What’s great is the programme is rolled out by teachers and nutritionists and, as a parent, sometimes what I say doesn’t carry the same weight with my kids. They’relike, ‘this is a proper grown up talking now’. To find out more about Tesco Stronger Starts Cooks programme, visittescoireland.ie/strongerstartscooks. Read the full interview in the latest issue of RSVP Magazine, on shelves now