Turning 30 abroad: Making the decision to stay or return

I’m guessing I’m like many other Irish people who have turned 30 in the last year who have started to evaluate “what next”? Such a milestone often gets the mind thinking about things like careers and relationships, wondering whether we are on track to achieving our hopes and aims for the future.

But the most pressing issue for me and my girlfriend of seven years, Maria, is whether or not to up and leave the decent lives we have made here in Manchester and move back home to Ireland. Do we stick or twist?

We are both from the Sligo and moved to Manchester just over four years ago. Maria was unemployed at the time, so we decided to give England a shot. London was too big; I knew Manchester because of football and had been here on many occasions, so we chose to go there.

We both got jobs straight away. They weren't what you would call "career jobs" but we were happy to be working. Maria was soon offered an NHS funded course in occupational therapy in Salford, and she jumped at the chance as this was her passion.

I found a new job in multinational insurance company. Things were looking up. Finances were tight while Maria was studying for her degree, but we got through in the knowledge that after the three years she would walk into a job.

There is a strong Irish community in Manchester. The days of everyone living in the same pockets of the city are long gone, but we still stay in touch with our Irish roots here, and often drink in the local Irish bar, Mulligans of Deansgate. We go all out every Paddy’s day, playing Irish music on the laptop before heading for the pub.

But it is not the same as being at home. We miss the food, and the beach. Both of us were brought up just 10 minutes away from world class beaches on the Atlantic coast. We can’t see ourselves settling down in the UK. We have met lovely people and have been very fortunate career-wise, but at the end of the day, Manchester is not home, and it doesn’t feel like it ever will be.

We made the decision late last year after Maria finished her degree to start looking for jobs in Dublin. Talk of a recovery raised our hopes. I applied for a transfer to my company’s Irish office, which was approved. We were delighted.

As Maria is a healthcare worker, her first port of call was the HSE, but she had no luck. On recruitment websites, she found just two or three jobs for the whole country, all asking for at least three years’ experience. Our hopes were dashed. We said we would stay another six months and see what becomes available in the new year.

Fortunately there is no shortage of jobs in the NHS. Maria secured work within a month, and along with the many other Irish working in the NHS, she is now getting great experience in a world class hospital.

So 2015 is going to a big year for us. We could stay in Manchester and continue to soak up the experience we need to get a job back in Ireland, but then we might easily end up like many of the long term Irish over here and never move back. Or we could return to Dublin with just one guaranteed wage, which would be a big risk to take with a crazy rental market and little prospect of getting on the property ladder.

Talk of a recovery at home is all well and good but for us, like most people who have had to leave the Emerald Isle for work with the hope of returning sooner rather than later, it seems like we may have to stick it abroad for the time being at least.