Are you leaving?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

My younger son leaves for Perth, Australia at the end of this month.

Have a sister in Perth Hardy, and the brother-in-law knows some of the local footy folk, which can be a fair way to network, if your lad was inclined towards the AFL at all?

[stephenite]

Aerlik is the man from Perth on here, he'll be able to put up bail money and everything

I'm gone 5 years, left in the midst of the Celtic Tiger when I had a great job and was earning good money in Dublin. Left because the Aussie girlfriend's Visa had just expired, she was to be taken on full time and sponsored by the crowd she was working for in Dublin however that fell through at the last minute and she about a week to leave the country, I had to make a quick decision and figured I'd head out for a year and sure I could always come back if things didn't work out.

We've since married and had a child and are now looking to get out of the city rat race in Sydney and move somewhere a bit sedate.

I miss home, I've missed a heap of weddings and the like. I hate sitting at home watching McHale park on the TV when Mayo are playing, I hate sitting at home watching Croke Park when anyone is playing but on the balance of all things considered I love it out here, I've a fantastic lifestyle with some great friends and a game of football and a few pints isn't enough to put bread on the table if I was to return.

If I feel a bit homesick I always think of those that came out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Internet is a marevellous invention and the notion of having to write a letter to enquire about news and wait for the return is ludicrous, but that's what those poor people had to put up with

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

If I feel a bit homesick I always think of those that came out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Internet is a marevellous invention and the notion of having to write a letter to enquire about news and wait for the return is ludicrous, but that's what those poor people had to put up with

Yep! Grandfather's oldest brother sailed out in 1912 (voluntarily!). 3 months (or whatever) on a creaky oul ship, can't imagine it!

[The Subbie]

I'm gone near 7 months now & whilst I do miss family & friends I don't miss home that much,having said that I do sometimes miss being involved in certain occasions at home, case in point nephews christening last week.
Leaving was THE hardest thing I have ever had to do, I was all right till the bag was in the back of me bro in laws car & bout to head for the airport, turned round & looked at me mum standing on the back step &I'm not too big a boy to admit that the tears started.
Skype is good but unless there's a good broadband connection your  better off just using it to make a call,& broadband connections in north Monaghan are not terra!! how the knowledge economy will work God knows but that's for another day.
I haven't really done the whole Irish pub thing bar the day/night of the ulster final & what a waste that was!!!
As someone else said on the thread you do meet a lot of Irish that seem to want to give out about home as soon as you meet them, I can't figure that one out at all, we're all from a great place that has been unfortunate enough to have had a shower of fcuk wits running it for the last while & that's why some of us end up scattered round the globe.
I still love home & always will but I'm loving being in a new country,learning a different way if life,meeting new people & going new places & getting paid to do so, it's not all bad it's what you make of it, as an old Italian taxi driver said to me the other day  " in a new country it's hard at the start but you'll start winning bit by bit bit in small steps"

[Declan]

Hope the young lad gets on well Hardy. I'd have similar thoughts myself for my eldest who may be in that position in a couple of years

[seafoid]

Things are changing in the world of employment and people coming out of college won't have a job for life if they are lucky enough to get a job. It will all be about what you learn and  how you can apply your learning  to the job in question. A few years abroad gives people perspective .

To be honest,  Ireland needs a lot of structural work . There is no legal protection for contractors of large building forms when the latter are bankrupt.  There was no bank resolution scheme until recently. The health insurance market is broken. The OPW has destroyed  a massive amount of its historical records for no reason. There is no export credit scheme . And so on.

A cohort of smart, well educated returnees with experience of standards in other countries  is priceless.

[the Deel Rover]

Aerlik is the man from Perth on here, he'll be able to put up bail money and everything

I'm gone 5 years, left in the midst of the Celtic Tiger when I had a great job and was earning good money in Dublin. Left because the Aussie girlfriend's Visa had just expired, she was to be taken on full time and sponsored by the crowd she was working for in Dublin however that fell through at the last minute and she about a week to leave the country, I had to make a quick decision and figured I'd head out for a year and sure I could always come back if things didn't work out.

We've since married and had a child and are now looking to get out of the city rat race in Sydney and move somewhere a bit sedate.

I miss home, I've missed a heap of weddings and the like. I hate sitting at home watching McHale park on the TV when Mayo are playing, I hate sitting at home watching Croke Park when anyone is playing but on the balance of all things considered I love it out here, I've a fantastic lifestyle with some great friends and a game of football and a few pints isn't enough to put bread on the table if I was to return.

If I feel a bit homesick I always think of those that came out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Internet is a marevellous invention and the notion of having to write a letter to enquire about news and wait for the return is ludicrous, but that's what those poor people had to put up with

Times have changed back home Stephenite its not like it used to be, if you went out to watch a match in the pub you would probably be on your own . A lot of people under serious pressure and i'm sure if they hadn't mortgages and the likes they would hop on the plane in an instant and get the hell out of here.

[Hardy]

Thanks again everybody for the good wishes and practical suggestions. Iceman - we're all Skyped up already. What a difference that alone makes to people's lives by comparison with the days when a letter took months to arrive.

Anyway - I just wanted to contribute the perspective of the emigrant's family to the discussion. I didn't expect such a thoughtful response.

[the Deel Rover]

Thanks again everybody for the good wishes and practical suggestions. Iceman - we're all Skyped up already. What a difference that alone makes to people's lives by comparison with the days when a letter took months to arrive.

Anyway - I just wanted to contribute the perspective of the emigrant's family to the discussion. I didn't expect such a thoughtful response.

Yes times have changed Hardy but like you said it still isn't easy seeing them leaving the nest for faraway lands. I 'll dread that day myself  but as much as i hate saying it i think that we are rearing our children for export (i'm hoping i'm wrong)  All the best to your young man.
btw what jersey has he packed is it a cork or meath one

[Tubberman]

Thanks again everybody for the good wishes and practical suggestions. Iceman - we're all Skyped up already. What a difference that alone makes to people's lives by comparison with the days when a letter took months to arrive.

Anyway - I just wanted to contribute the perspective of the emigrant's family to the discussion. I didn't expect such a thoughtful response.

Yes times have changed Hardy but like you said it still isn't easy seeing them leaving the nest for faraway lands. I 'll dread that day myself  but as much as i hate saying it i think that we are rearing our children for export (i'm hoping i'm wrong)  All the best to your young man.
btw what jersey has he packed is it a cork or meath one

Come on Deel, we're not screwed as a country forever more. We're in the depths of a severe recession, but we will get out of it.
The export market in Ireland was up by something like 11% last year. The food/agri sector is thriving apparently.
The area I work in (IT/Telecomms) is flying - I have had recruitment companies ringing me out of the blue to see if I'm interested in roles.
I don't mean to sound like "I'm alright Jack", but just to put a bit of perspective on things. Not everything is stagnant or going down. There are opportunities out there. 

[Ulick]

This should lift you all after all those morbid thoughts of emigration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRYGek_hf0:

[Canalman]

Honestly think that some emigrants look back overnostalgically on Ireland as it was the place of their youth............... and generally we all reminisce about our youth(bar the smallish % who sadlly had terrible childhoods).
Personally may have to go if job goes but will just have to shrug shoulders and get on with it.

Anyone who goes away on the basis of what they experienced on a year away in Oz etc is on for a big wake up call as reality, bills, bad days at work, mortgages etc are universal issues.

Personally I think there is nowhere on this Earth better than Ireland in the summer time when (a big ask I know) the weather is good. Even sitting in on a wet winter Sunday afternoon in front of fire watching an old Bond/John Wayne flick has its charms.

Best of luck to all posters away or on the way.

[the Deel Rover]

Honestly think that some emigrants look back overnostalgically on Ireland as it was the place of their youth............... and generally we all reminisce about our youth(bar the smallish % who sadlly had terrible childhoods).
Personally may have to go if job goes but will just have to shrug shoulders and get on with it.

Anyone who goes away on the basis of what they experienced on a year away in Oz etc is on for a big wake up call as reality, bills, bad days at work, mortgages etc are universal issues.

Personally I think there is nowhere on this Earth better than Ireland in the summer time when (a big ask I know) the weather is good. Even sitting in on a wet winter Sunday afternoon in front of fire watching an old Bond/John Wayne flick has its charms.Best of luck to all posters away or on the way.

the hell it does

[Hardy]

Thanks again everybody for the good wishes and practical suggestions. Iceman - we're all Skyped up already. What a difference that alone makes to people's lives by comparison with the days when a letter took months to arrive.

Anyway - I just wanted to contribute the perspective of the emigrant's family to the discussion. I didn't expect such a thoughtful response.

Yes times have changed Hardy but like you said it still isn't easy seeing them leaving the nest for faraway lands. I 'll dread that day myself  but as much as i hate saying it i think that we are rearing our children for export (i'm hoping i'm wrong)  All the best to your young man.
btw what jersey has he packed is it a cork or meath one

Thanks Rover. The jersey is a Meath one. I had nothing to do with that choice apart from taking him to Meath matches since he could walk. For some strange reason, I can't ever remember taking him to a Cork one. But of course his choice was his own and simply due to inheriting good taste and judgement.

[Capt Pat]

Ok the panic is over I am staying.