Wild Geese

Irish people working abroad tell their stories

The Irishman who helped build Dubai: ‘The metro was our big break’

Wild Geese: John O’Kelly owns an architectural steel company in Dubai, which is currently building the Ugandan parliament building

‘The Portuguese are very like the Irish in many ways’: the Tipperary man in charge of Denis O’Brien’s luxury Algarve resort

Wild Geese: Sean Moriarty runs Quinta do Lago resort

‘Last time I tried to park a car in Dublin, I couldn’t get over it’

Wild Geese: Progression with BNY and frequent travelling to the US led Alan Flanagan and his family to move to New Jersey in 2016

Crafting jewellery in a country where it is considered rude to show your wealth

Wild Geese: Michael O'Dwyer, Stockholm

An Irish jockey in Australia: ‘The longer you stay, the harder it becomes to go home’

Wild Geese: Johnny Allen, Australia

‘Rome is a fantastic city to live in, but it’s very complicated. It’s a mess of a place. Madrid is clean. Everything works’

Wild Geese: Barry Haughian works for Ukrainian telco Intellias in the Spanish capital

‘Copenhagen is like Disneyland compared to Munich: moving here immediately resonated with me’

Wild Geese: Caroline Ryan, Copenhagen

An Irish designer making waves in sustainable fashion in Portugal

Wild Geese: Molly Walters, Lisbon

‘In Ireland we have lost some the human connection in business dealings. In Uganda it is deeply valued’

Wild Geese: Living and working in Uganda, Declan Peppard ‘truly misses’ St Anne’s Park in Dublin

‘Trades are very well paid here compared to anywhere else in the world I have been’

Wild Geese: Chris Kidney is a carpenter in Melbourne, Australia

An Irish businessman in Singapore: ‘You’ll get a year in jail if you are in a drunken brawl, so people don’t step out of line’

Wild Geese: Martin O’Regan has a leading role in a niche business in the island nation

An Irish woman in Malta: ‘I miss my family and the greenery of home but not the driving rain’

Solicitor Fiona Healy cites the lower cost of living, the international focus and the ease of doing business as reasons why she loves living on the Mediterranean island

Chef Ryan O’Sullivan: ‘I was like, I have to get back to the States and make something of myself’

O’Sullivan, who hails from Cork, won season 22 of Gordon Ramsay’s US television show Hell’s Kitchen

An Irishman in Paris: ‘Getting under the many layers of Parisian culture is a fascinating but neverending endeavour’

Wild Geese: Eoghan MacDonagh is a senior associate with the law firm Clifford Chance

‘The Czechs like to own property, like the Irish’

Wild Geese: Richard Curran, Prague

‘In New York, everything has to be done yesterday’

Wild Geese: Sophie Colgan, New Jersey-based charity auctioneer

‘We have six cars, one for each of the kids and one for the dog, who has nerve issues’

Wild Geese: Jonathan O’Connor lives in Atlanta, Georgia

‘There are stereotypes which may infer Spaniards are not sincere, but that has not been my experience’

Wild Geese: For Dubliner John McGrail, what began as a six-month trip to Spain after graduation turned into a lifelong love affair with the country

‘The minute you start murdering their language, they stop you’

Wild Geese: Sharon O'Flaherty Dehmel

‘In the US I found myself apologising for my humour, as in Ireland we are inclined to be sarcastic’

Wild Geese: Aedhmar Hynes, Connecticut

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