Abroad

Top stories from Irish Times Abroad this week

Brexit concerns for Irish in Britain, the 'Bad Bridget' project, Sydney's Gaelic club and more

Ciara Kenny's face
Ciara Kenny
Wed Feb 20 2019 - 05:00

The Brexit vote has led to a lot of uncertainty among many Irish people living in Britain about the potential impact on travel and healthcare, their job security and investments, as well as renewing the focus on their status as immigrants. In Abroad today, four people working with some of the 120+ Irish organisations across the UK share the concerns of their members as Brexit approaches.

As part of an in-depth series on the Irish in Britain over the coming weeks, we are looking to gather the stories of Irish people living across the UK. Whether you moved there two years ago or 50, we'd like to hear about your journey across the water, and how Britain has become home (or not) for you. Click here to find out more.

"As obsessed as the Irish national psyche is with Britain and our independence from it, many people in Britain are unaware that Ireland is a separate country at all," writes London-based Irish comedian Peter Flanagan, in our most-read article of the week about having to repeatedly having to explain the geography of their own country to British people.

Lizzie Halliday from Co Antrim, dubbed the "worst woman on earth", married six times by the age of 30. Her involvement in her husbands' deaths was unquestioned, until the body of the sixth was discovered under the floorboards of their house in New York. Her story is among those gathered as part of the Bad Bridget project, about the "criminal and deviant Irish women" convicted in America. You can catch a talk about the project at the EPIC emigration museum in Dublin next week.

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International recruitment agencies are offering Irish trainee teachers thousands of euro up-front to move abroad to teach in subjects such as science and maths, despite acute shortages in Irish classrooms. Carl O'Brien has the story here.

Louise Kelly visits the Gaelic Club in Sydney, which has become a home from home for multiple generations of Irish people, from Gaeilgeoirs and fiddle players, to "misfits" and gays. And in our Working Abroad Q&A this week, John Richardson shares his experience of moving to Bremen where he works as a space satellite software developer and has "never considered returning".

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

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