Down my way

"I've been living in Douglas for the past 15 years. I grew up in St Luke's on the north side of the city, so I'd be accused of crossing the line. I married a girl from Douglas so I'd no choice. Mary and I are on our second house in the area. Our first was a detached bungalow on the Well Road, which we bought when we got married in 1982 for £35,000. It had been on the market for nine months - a sign of the times then.

I wouldn't swop where I am. We're five minutes from the airport and the Dublin road is five or 10 minutes away. The new link road brings you out to Bantry and west Cork in an hour. We're benefiting hugely from EU money. The infrastructure is there now with new roads and the Lee tunnel. Satellite towns, like Mallow and Cobh and Midleton, have really taken off. Passage, Crosshaven and Carrigaline are developing in a big way. Cork was the last place to get in on the boom but the whole area has taken off in the last 18 months.

Now it is fantastic. People crib all the time about prices but there's still great value in Cork. When you go to Dublin you spend so much time travelling - Cork's infrastructure is way ahead. We stay in the Glenview Hotel in Wicklow for international matches and when you pull back the curtains in the morning you see all the traffic going into the city. I started playing rugby at CBC and then for UCC and Cork Constitutional. Cork was so small everybody knew your business. A lot of my social life was around the rugby scene. The Vineyard on Patrick Street was the main watering hole and my local is The Briar Rose in Douglas. We now have a lot of Dublin-style megapubs, so the whole social scene is changing.

From all points of view Douglas is great - for shopping, entertainment and good restaurants. The whole area is self-sufficient. I wouldn't swop where I am."