<P> For her portrayal of Irene, McGranger was nominated for "Best Supporting Actress" and Irene for "Biggest Laugh in Soap" at the 1997 Inside Soap Awards . At the 2007 Inside Soap Awards she was nominated in the category of "Funniest Performance" for her portrayal . Irene and Leah's friendship won the 2015 TV Week and Soap Extra #OMGAward for Best BFFs . In August 2017, McGranger was longlisted for Best Daytime Star at the Inside Soap Awards . She made the viewer - voted shortlist, but lost out to Lorna Laidlaw, who portrays Mrs Tembe in Doctors . </P> <P> The Sydney Morning Herald have referred to Irene as one of the serial's three "legacy characters", along with Alf and Colleen . Holy Soap recall Irene's most memorable moment as: "Being attacked by the mad ex-wife of her former lover Ken ." In Catherine Deveny's book "It's not my fault they print them" described Irene as "the rough diamond with a heart of gold that speaks fluent Aussie cliché ." She added that there was no need for her to speak so Australian with the use of dialogue such as: "Fair dinkum" and "What the flipping' eck is goin' on?" </P> <P> In 2018, writers for TV Week included Irene in their feature on the "Top 20 Home and Away characters of all time". They wrote, "For more than 20 years, Irene has been the battler of Summer Bay . The resilient redhead has fought breast cancer, alcoholism and stalkers--to name just a few . Yet she's always bounced back using her strength and' flippin' heck' catchphrase . Irene's open - door policy has seen all walks of life receive her advice and a hot cuppa . But her kind heart gets her into strife . Most recently, the arrival of her troubled son Mick (Kristian Schmid) reopened a dark chapter and put her at odds with bestie and business partner Leah ." </P>

Who played irene's son in home and away