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June’s top Abroad stories: ‘You’ll always find an Irish connection no matter how far from home you are’

An Irish woman shares her experiences in Fiji; a couple set up a hotel for dogs in Switzerland; and we hear about a college student’s move to the Netherlands

Treasa Cadogan in Fiji. 'I met a local man who had been to Cork while working on cargo ships.'

Thu Jun 29 2023 - 15:26

Treasa Cadogan is basking in the sun in Tuvalu, Fiji, in her new role as Climate Change Officer for the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office. While it is a change from both her native Cork and London, she says “I have been exposed to many areas of development and have, of course, seen first-hand the impact of rising sea levels and changing weather patterns”. It is a change of pace from Irish weather with 30-degree heat and high humidity becoming the norm, “there is not much change in seasons, we just have the cyclone/wet season and the cooler dry season.” Even though she is far away from home, Treasa says finding a local connection with people is still possible; “I met a local man who had been to Cork while working on cargo ships. You’ll always find an Irish connection no matter how far away from home you are”.

Ursula McDermott writes about how she took her career from Ireland to Israel where she “embraced uncertainty and also Hebrew and academic studies in a land whose placenames stirred vague memories from even more vague religion classes”. Her piece reflects how while living in the Middle East she found similarities between the two countries such as the phrase God being inserted into casual greetings in Irish, Hebrew and Arabic. The countries are also connected through their current religious leaders: “the Irish-born son of Rabbi Herzog, Ireland’s first chief Rabbi, was a recent president of Israel. His grandson is the current President Herzog”.

In Switzerland, Aileen and Ronan Woulfe from Phibsborough set up a hotel for dogs. It is not your usual entrepreneurship venture but as Aileen settled into life in Switzerland, “I could see a definite gap in the market for the type of boarding service I had always wanted for my dogs”. This thought provided the seed for the creation of the luxury dog hotel. “Renovations took three years, but we finally achieved what we planned and business is booming,” Aileen says. Setting up a business came with its own set of challenges; language barriers and labour presented challenges but Aileen says “expats need services like ours since they travel a lot without a family network locally to take care of pets in their absence”.

Andrew Fitzgerald’s family have made a few trips across the Atlantic, destination: San Diego. However, like so many plans it was not a straightforward process. After landing in California “we started feeling homesick and longing for the familiarity of the status quo,” says Andrew. “We found comfort in each other’s discomfort” he concluded before they decided to do something to remedy the situation. The move back to Ireland was a solution that they thought would solve the problem, but the move still did not feel right to the Fitzgeralds. While back in their house in Cork “regret started to set in”.

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Co Laois native, Lisa Hainsworth, tells her story about emigrating to Canada and shares what she has learned from the experience so far. “I always knew that I wanted to explore the world,” she said, “I knew one day I would leave Ireland to see what else was out there.” Despite enjoying her time living in Canada, Lisa reveals “the things that used to annoy me about Ireland, like the weather or the slow pace of life, are now the things I miss the most”. The value of cosy pubs, lively music sessions and Irish humour and kindness are things only noticed when absent, Lisa says; despite all of this, she does not regret her move to Canada.

College student Conor Murray tells a similar story; after trying to build a life in Dublin he “didn’t see the point of moving out and trying to make an adult life for myself in Ireland” in an economy where the rents were rising. Instead, Conor set his sights on Australia where he lived for two years. From there he moved to the Netherlands where he is studying data science at Tilburg University. Conor admits homesickness is a factor but rationalises it saying, “Ireland is easy to romanticise, but I’ve lost patience with my country’s failure to make good on the practical details”.

Finally, Poraic Cahill tells us about throwing his hat at life in Dublin and settling in the Basque Country. He teaches English in Deba but lives in Zumaia where “the citizens of the bars and taverns of the town, who have welcomed me into their convivial way of life”.

You’ll find plenty more stories by and about the Irish diaspora this week on irishtimes.com/abroad.

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