'I love the peace, being able to walk on the beach'

"New 2 Gorey" is a voluntary group established in 2004 to provide information and support to "the many new people moving into the area".

The group runs a weekly walk-in session every Friday between 10am and noon in the Scouts Hall on Esmonde Street; has published a Directory of Services for Gorey & District; and offers free English-as-a-second-language classes to migrant workers.

The members of the group profiled here all moved to Gorey themselves during the last few years.

Trish O'Connor (42), originally from Tipperary, had "lived in a concrete jungle in the United States for 17 years" before she, her Gorey-born husband and three children returned to Ireland five years ago.

They live in a cottage at Tara Hill. She says: "Gorey is a fine town and a lovely place to live" and "couldn't see myself ever living anywhere else ".

The children "have adjusted well from American life and are happy".

Marie Cleary (43) and her family moved from Palmerstown in Dublin in 2001 and bought a four-bedroom detached house in Riverchapel, Courtown.

She loves the "peace and quiet; being able to walk on the beach; and knowing everybody". She has "no regrets" but misses the cinema, certain shops and public transport, and complains of being "like a taxi driver" for her four children. She has "lovely neighbours" but reckons "it takes about two years to settle".

Amelia Behan (55) wanted to live in a bungalow as she suffers from arthritis. She and her husband sold their house in Clondalkin in 2005 and moved down to Riverchapel as they "could not afford to move in Dublin".

She finds it "too quiet" after "the sounds of the city" but says her homesickness "has subsided". She misses her grown-up children and regrets not being able to see her four grandchildren more frequently. But her husband "loves it because he fishes".

Vesna Stekovic (42) from Croatia came to Ireland with her husband and two daughters in 2003.

They live in a rented house in the town. She says Gorey is "a nice small town with friendly people which is still safe for children".

She misses "family and friends" and the Croatian "winter snow" but "has no regrets about coming to Ireland".

She's impressed by the quality of education her daughters are getting but feels that the town could do with a cinema and a youth centre.'

New 2 Gorey : 086 2187306