‘I never thought I’d like the country but turns out it’s exactly what I want’

City living doesn’t come more urban than a home in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties and, for many years, architect Brian O’Brien and his family were very happy there. His young sons were well integrated into the local community through their school and social lives and, while the idea of a major move may have floated through the ether from time to time, it took the pandemic to push it centre stage.

Eighteen months on and the O’Briens are now happily settled in their new home in Schull in west Cork.

Initially, the family went south for a few weeks when the first lockdown was announced. This was a recce to test the waters and they stayed in Airbnbs. As the lockdown continued, the weeks turned into months and, roughly four months into the experiment, they broke the news of the permanent move to the boys.

“It was tougher on the older boy (12) as he considers himself a Dub. Dublin was his world and it was hard for him to imagine a different one. But it’s become easier since school and other activities reopened and there is generally more life around the place,” O’Brien says.

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“We’re within walking distance of the school and the village. We no longer need childcare because we are so close to everything and can both be flexible in our working day.”

Professionally, O’Brien is continuing to practise as an architect and to teach at third level. Apart from the occasional worry about becoming too professionally disconnected from the world, he has no regrets about the move.

“We’re not taking jobs from people in the area. We’ve brought them with us which is the holy grail of rural regeneration,” he says. “My only advice to anyone thinking of moving is do your research and pick the right spot.

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“We have since bought a house, fortunately just before prices started to rise, and have loads of space. We have a lovely big dog now which is something we couldn’t have had in our previous house as it was too small. Sometimes I wonder if it’s too quiet here, but that feeling never lasts more than a second.”

Tomás Ó Síocháin, chief executive of the Western Development Commission (WDC) says there are several things fuelling people's decisions to relocate at this time. Growing climate change awareness and the impact of unsustainable commuting is one, a candidates' labour market making it easier for employees to ask for flexible and remote working is a second and 18 months' experience of the reality of working from home has made many employers a lot more open to decentralisation.

“Teleworking and e-working have been around for more than a decade. What’s changed and made the whole process a lot more viable are the huge improvements in technology,” Ó Síocháin says.

For those who have already made the move, statistics from the National Remote Work survey conducted in conjunction with NUIG show that the most popular destination for relocations as of April this year are Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Cork, Kerry and the Border counties. Out of almost 6,500 respondents, 75 per cent are working fully remotely and over half of them have never worked remotely before.

Two other interesting statistics to emerge were that 47 per cent of those managing others found no difference between managing remotely or onsite while 44 per cent saw no difference in productivity and 44 per cent saw an improvement.

Ó Síocháin emphasises that remote working in a rural environment isn’t necessarily the same as the working from home forced on many by the pandemic.

“We’re not talking about people having to work in their bedroom or on the kitchen table all the time,” he says. “There is a network of hubs along the Atlantic economic corridor where people can go to work in a comfortable, more formal setting – but without the long commute – while enjoying the advantages of good broadband, socialisation and good coffee.

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“From an employer’s perspective the hubs tick the box because they are regulated spaces that comply with health & safety requirements.

“The spillover advantage for rural communities is obviously economic but also social because people are not on the road so much. They’re around more and have more time to give something back,” Ó Síocháin adds.

“We often hear that encouraging people to move will somehow hollow out the cities. The reality doesn’t support this. We’re talking relatively small numbers overall but they are nonetheless significant enough to make a difference in rural areas – the difference between a small business such as a local café or a school staying open or closing for example.”

Aoibheann Boyle is just four months into her new life in Co Clare. She moved there from Wicklow and so far has no complaints.

"I've always been drawn to the west because my grandfather is from Limerick and my family came here on holidays. Somehow I feel completely at home here and more myself," says Boyle who returned to Ireland in 2019 following four years teaching in Spain.

She is now living in Kilkee and working with The Tourism Space, an online training, leadership, networking and mentoring business aimed at the hospitality sector. Boyle works three days from home and two days at the company's base in The Ennistymon Hub..

“I never thought I’d like the country but turns out it’s exactly what I want,” she says.