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‘When people ask me how I’m settling in, I’ve finally found an answer that will satisfy them and myself. I tell them “it’s great and it’s hard”.’

Now I'm back in Ireland, the wounds of grief are opening up

There are reminders on every street corner of people who are not there anymore

Should children of returning emigrants be exempt from Irish?

Veronica Fegan-Smith, her husband Tom and their children Griffin, Fiona, Erin and Kieran moved from New York to rural Clare last year. Photograph: Eamon Ward

Some parents want their kids to learn Irish, while others are relieved by the exemption

Returning emigrants facing social welfare and housing barriers

Some returning emigrants are being refused social welfare because of lack of access to information on the Habitual Resident Condition. Photograph: Peter Muhly

People left ‘vulnerable’ with no income because of ‘unacceptable delays’

Returning to Ireland Guide

Planning to return to Ireland? Here's everything you need to know

Unemployment is falling but emigrants need to do thorough research into jobs, housing, childcare and more before moving 'home'

Ask the Experts

‘I am single, never married. I am alone here, and I want to move there to help out with my grandchildren.’ Photograph: iStock/Getty Images

How can I join my son and grandkids in Australia?

Ask the Experts: I am alone in Ireland, and want to move there. Can I get a visa?

Series: Moving home after 16 years in Australia

'We decided not to compromise on whatever it took to make the transition as smooth as possible.' James Parnell moved back to Dublin from Sydney with his wife and three children. The cost of their first year back home was a shock.

It cost €30,000 to move our family home from Australia

Then there’s the €50,000 we’ve burned through in our first year back in Ireland

More stories

Electrician Gary O’Shaughnessy moved to Australia in 2011 with his now wife Rachel: ‘I feel let down my the current Government’s lack for action on these problems faced by returning emigrants.’

‘No way in hell would I move back to Ireland’: Emigrant builders have their say

Thousands of workers are needed but housing and a possible crash are concerns

‘Nothing, nowhere compares to the golden taste of Irish butter’

Returned emigrant Emma Prunty on the delight of baking in Ireland with ‘proper’ ingredients

‘I still feel so connected to America, but grateful to be gone’

Lisa Tierney-Keogh: ‘The talk of a blue wave of Democratic voters was just that: talk.’

I have watched this week’s events from afar in a state of numb exhaustion

Irish emigrants in Australia offered free flights home to fill jobs in Ireland

‘There is a particularly strong demand for personnel in the construction, IT, healthcare, medical device/ pharmaceutical and financial sectors at the moment.’ Photograph: iStock/Getty Images

Booming economy in Ireland creates shortages in IT, construction, health and finance

Returning emigrants are not looking for a red-carpet, just fairness

For the first time since 2009, Ireland is now welcoming more of its citizens home than the number departing the country. Photograph: iStock

Opinion: No justification for denying them maternity benefit or third-level fees for kids

Seeing casual sexism in Ireland with a returned emigrant’s eye

Serena Williams with referee Brian Earley during the US Open Women’s Singles final against Naomi Osaka of Japan on Saturday. Photograph: AP Photo/Adam Hunger

Serena Williams has shown Irish women how to stand up to casual sexism

The ups and downs of returning to school in Ireland from abroad

‘History and geography is all new: the day they had the 32 counties for homework, I needed to step in to help them pronounce Laois and Monaghan.’

A big pull to move home was the ‘excellent education system’ but it hasn’t been easy

Emigration in reverse: ‘Now the brains are coming back’

The buzz is back on Grafton Street. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

For the first time in a decade, more Irish are returning from abroad than are emigrating

Piecing myself back together after moving home to Ireland

'On the list of things I’ve been anxious about with moving home, the pressure to become a sea-swimmer is right up there.'

Swimming in the Irish Sea, I feel I am out of my depth, but at home

Leaving the US for good: ‘I want to be a Dub again’

‘It would feel like naivety or ignorance to listen to music, or a more entertaining podcast. To avoid the news doesn’t change what’s happening.’

I’ve lived away for three years and have never had such an unquenchable desire to go home

A Dubliner who became a New Yorker learns to be a Dubliner again

Lisa Tierney-Keogh in Times Square, New York: “Despite my clear exasperation with New York, we’ve come to terms with one another. I have learned how to navigate this city and its inherent chaos.” Photograph: Maribel de la Torre

I will have to make space for myself, temper my New York driving, relearn Irish humour

Erica Kelly and her partner are expecting triplets.

The life-changing words that brought us home to Ireland from London

‘I have big news for you, there are three in there’

'We moved Home to Work but where are all the promised jobs?'

'We moved Home to Work but where are all the promised jobs?'

All you hear about Ireland now when you’re living away is how much work there is - but jobs are not 'flying off the shelves'

Returning emigrants may not qualify for first-time buyer’s relief

Returning emigrants may not qualify for first-time buyer’s relief

Irish abroad: Was there anything for you in Budget 2017?

Number of emigrants returning to live in Ireland jumps 74%

Number of emigrants returning to live in Ireland jumps 74%

Emigration still high with 31,800 Irish leaving in 12 months to April

‘Back in Ireland, I feel a sense of belonging I missed in the US’

‘Back in Ireland, I feel a sense of belonging I missed in the US’

Coming back has given one returned emigrant a new understanding of what ‘home’ means

Big ‘life decisions’ bringing emigrants home, not jobs

Big ‘life decisions’ bringing emigrants home, not jobs

Opinion: Economy is improving but Irish abroad are still concerned about prospects

‘I’ve never felt settled in Australia. It is time to move back’

‘I’ve never felt settled in Australia. It is time to move back’

Readers respond to CSO figures showing drop in emigration and rise in returns

What are returning Irish emigrants most worried about?

What are returning Irish emigrants most worried about?

Survey of GAA clubs abroad finds job prospects and living costs are biggest concerns

Can I answer honestly about whether I’m glad to be back in Ireland?

Can I answer honestly about whether I’m glad to be back in Ireland?

Coming home from Australia was hard. I wonder if I harbour a little resentment because we had to leave Dublin in the first place?

Finding my place after moving back to Ireland as a teenager

Finding my place after moving back to Ireland as a teenager

Irish dependence on alcohol becomes more apparent the longer I’m back in Ireland

Are Ireland’s high tax rates a deterrent to living here?

Are Ireland’s high tax rates a deterrent to living here?

We asked high-earning Irish emigrants what they thought. Here’s what they had to say

Emigrants won’t return to Ireland if they feel they don’t belong

Emigrants won’t return to Ireland if they feel they don’t belong

There are too many obstacles in the way of people who want to move home from abroad

The farther I get from Ireland the more I want to return

The farther I get from Ireland the more I want to return

We have a privileged life in Singapore, but I long for packing the car at home on a Friday evening and heading to the country for the weekend

My heart is torn between Ireland and Canada

My heart is torn between Ireland and Canada

I’ve made a new life with my husband and daughter abroad, but I still yearn for home

Moving back to Ireland has not felt like coming home

Moving back to Ireland has not felt like coming home

Relationships with friends and family change when we emigrate. So too should our understanding of ‘home’

Returning to Ireland Q&As: What's life like back 'home'?

‘You can’t expect to move back to Ireland and everything to be the same’

‘You can’t expect to move back to Ireland and everything to be the same’

Returning to Ireland Q&A: Arts administrator Ruth Mulholland is struggling to find work after moving back from the UK

‘We wanted to be back in Ireland for all the big events, good and bad’

‘We wanted to be back in Ireland for all the big events, good and bad’

Returning to Ireland Q&A: Karen O’Reilly and her family have no regrets about moving home to Clonakilty from France

Encouraging emigrants to return to live in Ireland was one of the core strands of the Government’s Diaspora Policy, published earlier this year. Do you feel enough is being done to facilitate their return? What do you think could be done to better prepare people?

Have your say: What are the barriers to returning to Ireland?

If you’ve returned to live here, what were the challenges? If you’d like to move back, what’s stopping you?

Alan Hilliard: ‘The one who returns has changed many levels. The experience of living in a new place radically alters their view on things. What they believe, how they perceive, think, feel, and act can be very different.’ Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons / The Irish Times

Returning to Ireland? Don’t expect things to be as they were

While emigrating is difficult, moving back home can be surprisingly harder. Feeling like a stranger in a place you once felt totally at home can be very unsettling and shocking

Returning to Ireland: More first-person stories

I think it’s time to follow my friends home to Ireland

I had planned to settle permanently in Sydney. But then my Irish friends started moving home

Expat life in Singapore was great but it’s even better being home

‘Moving home to Ireland felt like going back to basics. We had to set everything up from scratch again.’

After 12 years in Asia we wanted a slower pace of life, so we moved home with our young kids

‘You can’t expect to move back to Ireland and everything to be the same’

Returning to Ireland Q&A: Arts administrator Ruth Mulholland is struggling to find work after moving back from the UK

Dear New Dáil: What you can do to bring emigrants like me home

Vanessa Monaghan from Co Meath now works for a media company in Westminster in London.

We have become used to certain rights and a quality of life abroad that Ireland needs to strive for

I’m homesick for friends who have all moved back to Ireland

Mary Johnson: ‘If you’re lucky enough to find close friendship away from home, you genuinely don’t know how long it’s going to last.’

FRIENDSHIP WEEK: As my husband and I sign contracts for our new house abroad, our friends are signing contracts for new jobs at home

When I got sick abroad, the Aussie Irish became my family

Crona Brady: I experienced just how close knit the expat community really is. Everyone looks out for everyone

I had a great network of new friends in Sydney, but nothing can replace the support of home when you’re ill

The farther I get from Ireland the more I want to return

Jessica Duff: I want my children to have the same connection to a place that I have, to be permanent grandchildren and cousins, not just summer blow-ins

We have a privileged life in Singapore, but I long for packing the car at home on a Friday evening and heading to the country for the weekend

I’m not just back for Christmas, I’m home for good

Sarah Kenny with her boyfriend Ruairí: ‘The decision to move home was not taken lightly and came with a mixed bag of emotions: excitement and sadness, nervousness, uncertainty, even self-doubt.’

After building up a great life in the Netherlands, the decision to leave and return to Ireland was tough

Why nowhere compares to west Cork

For Christmas, Kilbronogue will be grand. Perfect to welcome friends and family with goose and spiced beef and the wine and various duck-based products I’m bringing back from France. I can’t wait. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney

Returning to Ireland after 25 years in France inspired a life-changing cookbook

Moving back to Ireland hasn’t been as easy as I thought

Those #HomeToWork ads should include a warning about what it’s really like to move home

I’ve left my husband behind in Boston to ‘emigrate home’ from the US

Gráinne McEvoy: we’ll muddle through the next year like the best transnational couples

It was a wrench to leave my American life. At least my smallest nieces and nephews, unlike their older siblings, won’t think that I ‘live in the computer’

Ireland’s religious schools are putting us off coming home

Quality-of-life issue: Kevin O’Donnell, who lives in Seattle, with his wife and their daughters

We want to give our kids an Irish childhood surrounded by the people and places that matter most to us. But at what cost?

We’re home from the US ten years but still don’t feel settled

‘We can’t go on like this. It is difficult to explain the isolation we feel.’ Photograph: Bryan O’Brien /The Irish Times

All the Lonely People: It is difficult to explain the isolation we feel living in rural Ireland. Should we move back to the US?

I’m home a year but the New Yorker in me keeps kicking me on

‘I became a New Yorker in some ways and thrived on the energy, the buzz, the pace and the constant drive to do more, achieve more and better myself.’

Working as an attorney in Manhattan was a buzz but Ireland would always draw me back

I’m leaving Ireland again in search of a new sense of home

‘I will feel the same excitement as always upon landing in Dublin Airport on future visits, but if it weren’t for the people I care about that still live here, I probably wouldn’t visit Ireland at all. It was my old home.’

The initial euphoria of returning evaporated rapidly. It was demoralising to count the number of friends who had emigrated

Leaving California to work the land in Kildare

Maura McElhone working on the farm: “It’s a world away from my life in California, where flip- flops and T-shirts were the order of the day”

I moved home to rediscover Ireland. But I discovered a whole new world: farming

Single, jobless and 30, I returned to Ireland after a decade in the US

‘I’m enjoying feeling part of this place and it of me. And I am grateful for the opportunity Ireland has given me to start over.’

‘I feel a sense of peace that I struggled to find during my time in California’

'It's difficult to emigrate, but moving home is harder'

'The decision to move back was not an impulsive one. It took years to germinate, and by now, although I’m scared, I have faith I am doing the right thing.'

I never intended to stay away from Ireland for so long. I don’t think most emigrants do when they first take flight.

Coming home to a different country after 30 years abroad

Clare Waldron: 'There is no other place in the world where I laugh like I laugh here.'

Returning to Ireland after 30 years abroad has been a complicated experience for Clare Waldron

Returning from California after 26 years: My Irish friends say ‘Don’t do it’

Mark Czerwin: ‘I’ve had a good run of it here in the OC, but as I’ve grown older my priorities have changed; I’m less materialistic and more enthusiastic about living in a culture where people know and care about each other.’

Life in Orange County is filled with sun and sea, but my priorities have changed as I’ve got older

‘I moved back to Ireland to see if I could live there as an adult. I lasted 18 months.’

Noelle McCarthy: ‘I didn’t want to be an immigrant with an accent, I just wanted to sound like every other Kiwi... I thought I had to stop being Irish if I wanted to make it in Auckland.’

‘Ireland and Me’: Noelle McCarthy, Auckland

Returning to Ireland has been a whirlwind of emotion

Ceire Sadlier: ‘For a place where departing and returning emigrants flux daily in their thousands, Ireland makes it surprisingly difficult to slot out of the bureaucracy of life.’

After three Ikea trips and a multitude of forms, I’m settling back into life in Dublin

Ask the Experts Have a question about emigrating, life abroad or moving home?

Keep in touch Got a story or experience to share about living or moving abroad? Let us know

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