Storylines
Irene arrived in Summer Bay in October 1991 as the alcoholic mother of two children, Damian and Fin, being fostered by Pippa Ross. Having hit rock bottom after an unhappy marriage, she had started drinking heavily as a coping mechanism, and it was soon revealed that she had used violence towards Damian (and also her other son Nathan) on occasions while under the influence. Although Damian and Fin tried to maintain a relationship with her following her arrival, her drunken antics proved too much, and in January 1992, after falling down the stairs after a binge, she falsely accusing Damian and Fin of pushing her and then threatened to harm Pippa if she did not release Damian from her care. This proved to be the final straw for Damian and Fin; unable to cope with her behaviour any longer, the two, backed by Pippa and her husband Michael, told Irene to leave the Bay and go home and get her life back together. Irene left shortly afterwards.
After an 18 month absence, Irene returned to the bay in July 1993 after hearing in the news that Fin had nearly drowned during a deep sea dive. By this time, Irene had turned her life around and had not touched alcohol in over a year. Although initially sceptical, her children soon warmed to her when they realised that she really had changed for the better, and, following the arrival of Damian and Fin's brother Nathan in the Bay in August 1993 when Irene was considering leaving, Nathan explained that their mother was now recovered from alcoholism and had left their father; as a result Damian and Fin decided that they wanted her to stay at Summer Bay permananently. Despite the previous animosity between the two, Irene also soon became firm friends with Pippa, displaying a kinder side to her personality when she helped Pippa come to terms with the loss of her baby son Dale who died of SIDS in late 1993, and the death of her husband Michael, who drowned in a flash flood in 1996.
Before long Irene would become one of the key characters in the series, taking over the Beach House. Her three biological children moved back in with her, and she also fostered a number of other young people over time.
For a long time she worked in Ailsa and Alf Stewart's shop and then in the diner. She applied to become headmaster Donald Fisher's secretary at Summer Bay High School, even though she could not do shorthand, type or use a computer. She got the job and managed to pull the wool over Don's eyes by using a tape recorder and doing all the work at home in the evenings. He eventually cottoned on, and impressed by her resourcefulness, he then arranged for her to attend secretarial classes. In 2003, she acquired a share in the diner, bought for her by foster daughter Tasha Andrews.
In 2011, Irene was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Read more about this topic: Irene Roberts