NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Roots > My Irish Homecoming - We’re back home but so many are leaving

My Irish Homecoming - We’re back home but so many are leaving

Many friends and family members now ready to pack up and leave

APRIL DREW,

Irish Voice Reporter

Published Thursday, June 7, 2012, 7:03 AM

Updated Thursday, June 7, 2012, 10:20 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

26 Comments

April, Colum, Sadie and a group of friends.

Photo by April Drew

He met a Canadian girl a year and a half ago and they are to be married soon. His sister tells me he will never live in Ireland again.

“I’m only home for the weekend,” Brenda told me outside Penneys clothing store in Tralee on Saturday.

Brenda is 20 and has been in London since January.

“At the start I hated it but I think I’m getting used to it now,” she said.

Brenda works in a factory in London. She works six days a week and every seven or eight weeks comes back to Ireland for the weekend to see her family.

“I’m a home bird. I love being with my sisters and brothers and their kids so I come home as often as I can. I work hard, save up the money to fly back and it works out,” she told me.

Brenda doesn’t really like the social life in England and has made little friends.

“I moved over to my cousin who is there a year longer than me and we usually just go to the cinema or local pub at weekends. I prefer to go out in Ireland,” she added.

Australia is also a final destination for many young Irish.

Jennifer, 23, has her flight to Australia booked for June 19. She lost her job in a nursing home in Limerick a month ago. Nothing has surfaced since, so Australia is her only hope now for a job.

“Seven out of 19 from my class in school have emigrated. Six of them are in Aus so I’m going over to them to give it a try,” said Jennifer.

“There is nothing here at the moment so I’ll head away, make a bit of money to keep me and hopefully I’ll come back to Ireland in a few years with a bit of money to buy a house and maybe a husband if I’m lucky,” joked Jennifer.

My own cousin Carly, Colum’s godmother, is leaving for Australia next month. Carly left Ireland a few years ago for a job in Luxembourg so moving again isn’t a big deal to her.

She is following her best friend Gemma who left Tralee two months ago for a better life. We will miss Carly and hope she won’t stay there forever.

So that’s it. There is definitely sadness among my friends and their families as the younger generation are being forced to leave the country in search of work.

I hope more than anything that when the time rolls around for my children to find a job that there will be plenty. But for them they have an alternative. They are American citizens and will always have the option of moving to the United States.

But John and I hope and pray that Ireland will be back in full swing by then and Colum and Sadie won’t want to leave us.

Last page < 1 2 3

Nster.com

E-mail

26 Comments

See all comments

Bythebay | Jun 22, 2012, 02:23 PM EDT

those of you in the US (and elsewhere) left Ireland and became Americans or whatever the country was you went to. If you didn't want to do that you shouldn't have left Ireland. The people who remained in Ireland have decided Ireland's future. If you don't like it, that's too bad. No one asked you to leave and no one is asking you to consider returning.

Report abuse

irishcop025 | Jun 14, 2012, 07:20 PM EDT

Hi April,You seem like a very nice lady with a lovely family and I hope that everything works out for you and yours on your return home. However, I sometimes think your coulumns must be very frustrating to the thousand of Irish living here illegally and to the thousands more at home who would give anything for the Green cards that you and yor husband posess.I think people should not take those green cards if you don't intend to stay in the USA. There were tens of thousands of visas granted in the 90's and most of them are probably gathering dust back in Ireland today.Thats so unfair to the people who really need and want them.

Report abuse

merefalow | Jun 09, 2012, 05:41 PM EDT

IRELAND,I GRIEVE FOR WHAT YOU ARE BECOMING.I HAVE NO WISH TO BE A F,,,,,,, EUROPEAN,AND I DONT WANT TO LIVE IN A MULTI RACIAL MULTI CULTURAL MELTING POT,SCREW PC.THE OLD IRELAND IS GONE,MORES THE PITY,3000.OF OUR YOUNG LEAVING EVERY MONTH AND A BUNCH OF STRANGERS IMPORTED IN,BLOODY MADNESS,SCREW THE EURO AND THE EU.

Report abuse

EamonnDublin | Jun 09, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT

SeanMor, No disrepect to my English friends, but, when I lived there for 21 years, if anybody had called me part of "the New English", I would not have been at all impressed. I was, am, and always will be "Irish". You are what you are - no amount of "political correctness" and/or patronising platitudes, however well meaning, can change the facts. As for our emigrants returning, I was greeted with open arms, like we all are. As for we Irish considering ourselves "Europeans first", come on - who fed you THAT rubbish? SeanMor, if you want to come back to Ireland, and do so at some stage, have no fear, we will roll out the red (or green - whatever you like) carpet for you - and all the rest of you "over there"! Best Wishes, Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

Report abuse

EamonnDublin | Jun 09, 2012, 12:05 PM EDT

Report abuse

EamonnDublin | Jun 09, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

Report abuse

Seanmor | Jun 09, 2012, 11:49 AM EDT

A Sheoirse, is aoibhinn do ráiteas a léamh agus táim an-bhuíoch díot as. Mar a dúirt an Daibhiseach?, "Níl inti ach leath náisiún tír gann teanga". Cé nach minic a bhíonn seans agam an teanga álainn seo a chur i bhfeidm le Gaeilgeoirí eile, deirim cúpla focal Gaeilge le mo bheanchéile gach uile lá. Cé gur rugadh agus tógadh i Nua-Shasana í, is maith a thuigeann sí abairtíní mas seo: Dún an doras. Las an solas, Tabhair dom scian. Cá bhfuil mo scocaí? - agus dornán eile mar iad. Ní chuirfinn a lán lochta ar na daoine in Éinrinn a tháinig ó thíorta eile nuair a chuireann siad in iúl dúinn nach bhfuil aon tacaíocht acu don Ghaeilge. Is soléir dóibh nach bhfuil meas mo mhadra ag cuid mhaith den dream sa Dáil ar an dteanga oifigiúil den Stát. Go maire an Ghaeilge choíche, go deo, go hearr aimsire.

Report abuse

GeorgeDillon | Jun 09, 2012, 10:03 AM EDT

A Sheanmor (nó a Sheáin Mhóir?): Ní cheapaimse gur amadán thú toisc go mbaineann tú feidhm as teanga ársa na nGael. Is suimiúl an t-ábhar a luann tú, sé sin cén tionchur a bheidh ag na hinimircigh ar thodhchaí na Gaeilge. Is léir nach bhfuil suim dá laghad ag formhór na ninimirceach sa teanga, agus tá mé cinnte nach fada go mbeidh siad ag éileamh nach múinfí í dá gcuid pháisti. Cén fáth go mbeadh bá ag duine as an Phólainn nó an Rúis leis an teanga Gaeilge? Cheana féin chonacamar cúpla bliain ó shin cás cúirte i gCiarraí ina raibh tuismitheoirí cailín Rúise ag gearán mar go raibh ”iachall” á chur ar a n-iníon an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim. Agus é seo i nDaingean, baile Gaeltachta (mar dhea)! Agus chun sampla eile a thabhairt duit, bhíos féin ar Arann tamall ó shin, agus thug mé faoi ndeara go raibh scata mhór d’oibrithe as Oirthear na hEorpa fostaithe ann, ach nach raibh puinn Gaeilge ag duine ar bith a labhair mé leis, agus ní raibh suim acu sa teanga ach an oiread.

Report abuse

Seanmor | Jun 08, 2012, 10:46 PM EDT

Irishandproud: I'd like to know what percentage of the natives of the Irish state share your opinion. As I understand it, recent arrivals, including Arabs, Indians and Africans are no longer considered foreign nationals but the new Irish. When those of us who are Irish natives return, where do we fit in among the 'modern' Irish who regard themselves as Europeans first? Agus cad mar gheall ar an nGaeilge?. Nuair a dheinim iarracht an teanga sin a labhairt, ceapeann cuid mhaith acu gur amadán atá ionam.

Report abuse

Bythebay | Jun 08, 2012, 01:28 PM EDT

Certainly a reflection that emigrants can't afford to return to Ireland or if they return can't afford to buy a house when house prices are at the lowest they've been in years. They didn't do well in the US at all.

Report abuse

BrianO | Jun 08, 2012, 12:36 PM EDT

Reilly1 with the young Irish leaving Ireland and less educated workers as your competition, go for it, live your life the way you would like it, Go back to Ireland, you are still a citizen of Ireland you have less impediments than others, anyone can afford to pursue what they really want if they decide to go for it.

Report abuse

Bythebay | Jun 08, 2012, 11:10 AM EDT

The Mooneys won't have to worry about driving yet. Their US driving licenses, if they had them (many in the Bronx who emigrated couldn't learn to drive) aren't valid in Ireland. They have to pass the new driving regulations which are far stricter than the old ones. They'll even need a sponsor under the new rules!

Report abuse

EamonnDublin | Jun 08, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT

If I may, a "follow up" to my message to April Drew, below. I have just looked through the rest of the posts, and I realised that I might appear to be a little unfeeling towards those others who say they wish they could return to Ireland. I say this in all sincerity - if I had to leave Ireland again, the only place I would wish to go to is the United States. I have always had a great welcome there, and that is primarily due to the fact that those Irish who have made a new life there through the years have paved the way for acceptance and love towards the Irish by Americans. So, you have all done, and are still doing, a great job over there - making any required transition from Ireland far easier to make good than it might otherwise have been. To you all I say - keep it up and be happy and proud! God Bless You All. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

Report abuse

EamonnDublin | Jun 08, 2012, 10:10 AM EDT

Welcome home, April - and your family. Céad Míle, Míle Fáilte! I spent 21 years in England and came back home with my young family 32 years ago. I liked England and the English people, but it's always great to "come back to Éireann". Happy though I was to be home, I initially found it quite difficult to adjust back to Irish life. The bad driving - ignoring the rules of the road, the ignorance of failing to let another driver out from a side road, the failure to let pedestrians have their chance to cross the road, the failure to allow an oncoming right-turning car to go around in front of you in order to let the cars behind it get moving again, etc., ad infinitum, made me sad. The very slow, lackadaisical attitude to life raised an eyebrow of wonder. Dare I say it - the unkempt appearance of a lot of our society - most men seemed to have never heard of shoe polish, etc.(this was 32 years ago,it has improved since). And a few other bits and pieces! Then, one day, I muttered to another member of an unmoving queue that the delay was ridiculous. He said simply, "Sure what would you be doing"? It was then I realised that perhaps it was ME! Five minutes wasn't going to make any difference. Now? Happy as Larry! I wouldn't live anywhere else. Neither would my family. So, April, make the most of it. Forget the weather bit - could be worse, we don't have earthquakes, tsunamis or much natural disasters. Enjoy the fact that you can talk to total strangers, about anything, anywhere. Enjoy the fact that you can cross the country to see any of our beautiful scenery in a short enough drive. Enjoy the fact that a really sunny day is like heaven on earth! Enjoy the fresh food. Enjoy the sense of humour and fun. Enjoy just enjoying yourself. And, when you are working, be happy and do it to the best of your ability, as no doubt you already do. Go to it April - ENJOY IRELAND, and your family with you! God Bless, Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

Report abuse

IrishAndProud | Jun 08, 2012, 03:29 AM EDT

Cead Mile Failte, my fellow Irish! If only it was the case vastly more...Irish returning home, and Africans/Asians/Muslims LEAVING. It is not possible for such groups to contribute to Irish culture; every such person who enters Ireland makes it that much less Irish. Every Irish person who returns preserves Ireland that much more.

Report abuse