Irish in Perth on the pros and cons of life in Western Australia

What's life like for Irish people who have moved to Western Australia in recent years? Is being Irish a benefit for professionals and entrepreneurs in Perth? Is it a family-friendly place? Do the high salaries and fast-track career pathways outweigh the challenges of working fly-in fly-out (FIFO) in the mining regions, where the attitude is "fit in or F-off"?

And will the thousands of Irish people who have moved to Western Australia in the past decade move back home, or stay put?

I spent last week in Perth meeting trying to find out. I was delighted to be invited to join Fiona Mayers and Killian Keating in studio to put these questions to a panel of Irish people who have made Western Australia home in recent times, for a special Irish radio programme on Heritage 107.3FM.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 4

Photograph: Lorraine McCarthy

About the panel:

Fiona Mayers moved to Australia from Cork in 2011, and was joined by Killian Keating in 2012. Fiona is a marketing manager for True Blue Migration Services, and Killian is a sound technician. They co-host ElectroFri on HFM 107.3 every Friday, an electro music show with an Irish twist, and are the Perth administrators of the Irish People Living in Australia Facebook page, a hugely successful social media community with 38,000 followers, which Killian started in 2012.

Vicki Buckley is a barrister, also from Cork, who moved to Perth with her family last year.

Ciaran Kelly is a chartered civil engineer from Dublin who has been working on a fly-in fly-out (FIFO)vcontract on Barrow Island in Western Australia for five years.

Yvonne McCarthy is a qualified chemist who now works as a FIFO health and safety officer. She arrived in Western Australia in 2013.