Women’s World Cup: Ireland won’t have to look far for support among Australia’s Irish

Brisbane has become a temporary home for Ireland’s women’s soccer team over the past week, as the players got over jet lag and continued preparations for their first-ever appearance at the Fifa Women’s World Cup, being hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Eager to welcome them at the airport and at an open training session were members of the local Irish community.

There is a building sense of excitement and anticipation among the Irish diaspora, especially in the cities hosting their group stage matches.

Ireland face co-hosts Australia in a sold-out 83,500-person stadium in Sydney on July 20th, in the opening game of the tournament. Next, they play Olympic gold medallists Canada on July 26th in Perth, before heading back to Brisbane to play Nigeria on July 31st.

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There are plenty of Irish here to cheer them on, although that number has been decreasing over the last decade.

According to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 85,863 Irish migrants living in Australia as of June 2021, with 1,202 more Irish leaving Australia that year than arriving.

Back in 2012-2013 the figure was as high as 96,361.

Having the team here for their first ever major tournament is a “proud moment” for the Irish community, says Justine McKillop.

“There are no fans like the Irish fans, and to feel that sense of community, love and support is something else,” she said.

Originally from Co Antrim, McKillop and her husband Darren have lived in Sydney for 13 years.

They have two Australian-born daughters, Blake (6) and Madison (4), who are supporting both the Irish team and the Matildas in a celebration of both identities.

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McKillop is a nurse and her husband owns a construction company. Nursing, along with other medical professions and many construction trades, is on the Australian government’s skills shortage list. If your profession is on this list, it’s more straightforward to get an initial visa and then permanent residency.

Figures released by the Australian Department of Home Affairs show 2,009 temporary skilled working visas were granted to Irish citizens from July 2022 to March of 2023. This compared to 2,006 in 2021-2022 and 3,030 back in 2018-2019.

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Over the past 15 years, the largest spike in skilled-worker visas granted to Irish citizens was in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. More than 10,000 of them were granted in both of those years.

In the year the McKillops came to Australia, 5,818 skilled visas were issued to Irish citizens.

Like many others, the McKillops had only planned to come out for a year, but that quickly turned into 13 years.

They’re now Australian citizens, and have put their decision to stay down to the lifestyle, work-life balance and work opportunities.

I would speak for all Irish here in Australia – Covid absolutely threw us altogether. We felt extremely far away from home soil

—  Justine McKillop

“I don’t work weekends or public holidays, and I’m home every evening with my kids,” McKillop says.

Her husband’s workday finishes at 3.30pm, leaving them enough time for a “scoot to the beach” afterwards.

“It’s these small things that we love about here,” she says. Although there are many “beautiful benefits” of living in Australia, it “comes with a price,” she adds.

Australia’s closed-border policy during the Covid-19 pandemic meant the Irish in Australia were separated from family from March 2020 to February 2022.

“I would speak for all Irish here in Australia – Covid absolutely threw us altogether. We felt extremely far away from home soil,” McKillop says.

“We lived in fear about all the ‘what if’ moments and what we would do should we need to make the trip home.”

A major issue facing Australian cities since the reopening of international borders – and with it the return of international students and overseas migrants – has been a surge in rental costs.

According to a report by Australian real estate website Domain, rents are now at “record highs” across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

In Sydney, the average rental price for an apartment increased by 27 per cent since last year, while it has risen 22 per cent in Melbourne, 20 per cent in Perth and 17.8 per cent in Brisbane.

The average price for an apartment in Sydney, or unit as they’re called in Australia, is $670 a week (€410).

“The last few years have been difficult, with rental prices going up post-Covid, which has been challenging, but it appears prices are on the rise everywhere,” McKillop says.

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Her family rent near the beach and close to work, but if they were to buy in Sydney they would have to move out further to access more affordable housing.

The rental cost across major Australian cities is also a downside for Brian Moynihan, originally from Mallow in Co Cork, who moved to Brisbane in 2019.

After separating from his wife in 2021, Moynihan faced fierce competition to find somewhere to live.

“Looking at the rental market as a single fella in your 30s, just as rents were increasing, it was the first time I seriously considered moving home,” he said.

After “a few nervous weeks of uncertainty” he found somewhere, but still stresses over when the next rental increase is going to come.

Apart from the rental crisis, Moynihan says Brisbane is a very welcoming and diverse city, with a “reputation among Aussies of being a big country town rather than a capital city”.

“To put it in Irish terms, if Sydney is Dublin, Brissy is definitely Cork. The city itself has everything you need and more.”

There’s a big Irish presence here in Brisbane and I know we’ll do our part to make sure the team knows how proud we all are of them

—  Brian Moynihan

Moynihan, who works in digital marketing, was able to find work easily. “Thankfully, most Australians I’ve met think of the Irish as hard workers, so that tends to help in interviews – just be prepared to hear some horrendous impressions of an Irish accent.”

Thousands of Irish workers come to Australia every year on temporary visas, allowing them to travel, study and work across the country.

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In May 2023 there were roughly 22,000 Irish citizens in Australia on temporary visas, compared to 11,000 in June 2022, 12,000 in June 2021, 16,000 in June 2020, and 16,000 in June 2019.

Earlier this year, Moynihan got the call every emigrant fears. His brother rang and told him his dad was sick and it wasn’t looking good.

“In that moment, nothing else matters, you just want to be home. It reinforces every worry you ever had about leaving.”

Moynihan travelled back to Ireland for two months to spend time with family and assess whether he might move back.

His father recovered and he said that being back in Ireland, although enjoyable, solidified his decision to remain in Brisbane.

“I left Ireland in 2019 full of doubts, but sitting here in 2023, I know, for me, I have made the right choice.”

Moynihan will be bringing his stepdaughter, who will be wearing an Ireland jersey, to the Nigeria vs Ireland game in Brisbane.

“There’s a big Irish presence here in Brisbane and I know we’ll do our part to make sure the team knows how proud we all are of them,” he says.

Ireland’s second game is against Olympic gold medallists Canada, in Perth.

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Andrea Mangan has tickets and cannot wait, although she said she would have given her “left arm” to see the opening game against co-hosts Australia in Sydney.

“How amazing for the girls to be centre-stage and on the first game of the cup against the hosting team. What could motivate you more in an opening game?” she says.

Mangan thinks the Irish team will be in for a surprise to see just how much support there is for them at the games.

Originally from Conna in Co Cork, Mangan moved to Perth in 2015 and became an Australian citizen in 2020.

In terms of getting a rental there are slim pickings here for many of my friends, who are having to throw standards and areas out the window

—  Andrea Mangan on living in Perth

As an intellectual-disability nurse, and a single woman in her 30s, she says Perth, up until recently, “was a place [where] you could get ahead”.

“There was money to be made, saved and spent,” she said.

“Rent was cheap and so affordable. You could live in brand new four-bedroom houses, streets from your nearest beach, for less than a tiny box room in a college house in Waterford.”

However, increased rental prices and hikes in interest rates have changed the game.

Mangan says she bought an apartment in 2019. Since the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) started lifting the cash rate in May 2022, there have been 12 interest rate rises.

“I feel that now we might be after catching up a bit with Ireland,” Mangan says.

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“Things are more expensive now. In terms of getting a rental there are slim pickings here for many of my friends, who are having to throw standards and areas out the window.”

But Mangan is here to stay for now, she says, although being away from friends and family and seeing them “somewhat moving on in their life without you” is difficult.

For the McKillop family, Moynihan and Mangan, the buzz and hype around the Ireland team is a chance for the whole Irish community at home and abroad to come together.