Bank of Ireland, The Square, Listowel in October 2017
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Alice Taylor Poem
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A Rare National Treasure
This is a match programme from when Mayo last won the All Ireland Football.
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John B. Keane [poem engraved in The Square]
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Braying Stag in Killarney National Park October 2017
Photo: Jim McSweeney
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Returning “home’ after Years in Exile
It’s not all a bed of roses for returning emigrants. 300,000 people left Ireland out of necessity in the 1990s. Now some of them want to come home. Here are a few quotes from people who addressed a recent webinar on the difficulties of coming home to Ireland. Source: Irish Central
“Make sure the reason you move home is not just sentimentality,” said Siobhan Gibney, who moved home to Co Mayo after 26 years in Australia.
“People should stop and think carefully before making the decision to move home. It’s a terrible thing to live a life of regrets, but Ireland changes. Life is about opening new chapters. We have been lucky to settle in Westport and I feel like a bit of a fraud to be at this conference, because my experience of moving home has been mostly positive.”
Yvonne Tierney, who moved home to Galway after almost 20 years in Chicago, said it had been extremely challenging to deal with officials who expected her to have Irish documentation.
“Both my partner and I had drivers’ licenses for over 15 years in Chicago,” she said. “Yet we couldn’t transfer our licenses over and we haven’t even been able to get quotes for car insurance. Our job qualifications did not transfer over, either, because both of us qualified in America.”
Rita Feeney, a teacher who returned from Dubai, said the only information she received about returning home came from a Facebook page. She had been teaching in the UAE for over ten years, but found that her experience was not deemed fully relevant in Ireland.
“For me, Ireland is not appealing right now,” she said. “Family and friends are the only reason I am home. I am not teaching at the moment. I am in a factory and I hate it. It’s good to be home, I have no regrets, but I do want to take off again. I do wish this country would make it more attractive for us to come back.”
Julia Scully, who has just moved home after 20 years in Seattle, said she was overwhelmed by the paperwork she has faced since she returned to Ireland.
“It has been tough. I just feel it’s very, very difficult to get going here. It’s difficult to have to take 12 driving lessons when I have been driving for over 20 years in the US. Sometimes I feel like packing everything up and just moving back to Seattle,” she told the conference.
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Clarification
not quite from the horse’s mouth but from an eye witness
Hi Mary, with regards to the old building behind the Garda Barracks, as a child, I always assumed it was used for servicing the police cars, as there was a huge oblong shaped hole in the floor, like a pit that you see in garages. Many happy memories of playing in there with the sergeants daughter, Mary Sheppard and friends, happy days. Regards, Rose Sheehan, ( nee Shine of Colbert Street).
(Thank you Rose)
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60 Years Ago
Sixty years ago tonight: Lennon (17) & McCartney (15) on stage together for first time. The Quarry Men on Broadway … Norris Green, Liverpool
Photo and caption from Twitter
