{"id":1789,"date":"2025-08-16T06:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/1789\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T06:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:50:08","slug":"emigrants-on-returning-home-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/1789\/","title":{"rendered":"Emigrants on returning home \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland has undergone huge changes over the last number of decades. From the legalising of divorce, same-sex marriage<\/a> and abortion<\/a>, to boom and bust economics, increasing immigration, a housing crisis and the impact of the Covid<\/a> pandemic, people living here have witnessed enormous social shifts.<\/p>\n

For Ireland\u2019s returning expats, however, home can look very different to the one they remember. The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that, in the year up to April 2024, 30,000 Irish citizens returned<\/a> to our shores for various reasons, in some cases after many years abroad.<\/p>\n

So, what do these recent returnees make of the Ireland of today? Is there really no place like home? Or does it even feel like home any more?<\/p>\n

We spoke to four people who made the move back in recent years.<\/p>\n

Kate Gleeson (39) from Waterford<\/a> returned to Ireland from London in 2024 when her father became ill. She had been in London for nine years and also lived there for a time in the early 2000s. <\/p>\n

As a gay woman, Kate initially found it easier to live in London. \u201cbecause it\u2019s a bigger city\u201d. She said: \u201cIn that perspective, I found it easier to be who I was, because there was less judgment around. I felt in Waterford, everyone knew me and I was always scared that eyes would be on me and they\u2019d be judging me. It was still very taboo here at the time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, things are completely different. \u201cI probably feel safer here than I do back there, to be honest.\u201d <\/p>\n

This, she says, is due to having lived in an area where she encountered people with a \u201cnegative outlook on the LGBT community\u201d. She feels these views stem from their religious beliefs. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t feel as safe walking down the high road holding my girlfriend\u2019s hand, because I know that I would probably get a few tuts and a few sighs over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Kate loved the \u201canonymity\u201d of London. She has a close group of friends there and admits she has found adjusting to living in Ireland again \u201cvery hard\u201d. \u201cWhen I used to walk into town years ago, I\u2019d know 10 people in the space of five minutes. Now I don\u2019t know anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KateKate Gleeson feels safer back at home in Waterford after nine years in London, but it has been a big adjustment. Photograph: Patrick Browne <\/p>\n

She notes the increased number of non-nationals living in Waterford, saying it \u201cdoesn\u2019t bother me in the slightest\u201d. \u201cI think it\u2019s a natural progression in this world and that\u2019s how it should be. We\u2019ve been taken in all over the world, why shouldn\u2019t we take people in?\u201d <\/p>\n

However, she thinks \u201cthe community spirit … that we used to have is gone\u201d, adding: \u201cYou don\u2019t have people knocking on your door any more, like you used to \u2013 \u2018hi, I\u2019m just calling for a tea or a coffee\u2019. People have to ring you in advance and it\u2019s kind of \u2018I might come around on Tuesday next week\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

People say a passing hello, but don\u2019t stop for a chat in the same way as before, she observes. Some good things remain, though. After her father died recently, she says the enduring traditions around the way Irish people treat death continues to be a comfort to the bereaved. <\/p>\n

Kate works for a charity remotely. She is not certain she will stay in Ireland. Healthcare is a factor. She was diagnosed with a \u201cneurological muscle condition a couple of years ago\u201d. \u201cAnd I get free treatment in London, like everyone else does\u201d, on the National Health Service (NHS).<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Are home-buying grants available to us as returning emigrants?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She also points to the housing crisis here and her difficulty finding somewhere to rent. All of which has her wondering if leaving Ireland again is the only option. <\/p>\n

Alan Gleeson (no relation to Kate) is 51. He moved home to Cork in September 2024 after 25 years in Britain.<\/p>\n

\"ReturningReturning to Cork after 25 years in London, Alan Gleeson admits to feeling like something of an outsider. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

As a younger man, he went to London on a graduate programme following his commerce degree, before working in digital marketing. He lived in suburban London with his wife and children. \u201cThere was a local GAA club two minutes away that the kids would have played for, so it\u2019s quite an Irish feel to the area,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously London is very cosmopolitan, but there\u2019s a nice Irish feeling too, in terms of a bit of a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan returned to Ireland for a mixture of reasons. \u201cWe were both working remotely … And then quality of life and being close to family were probably the main drivers in returning.\u201d<\/p>\n

He admits to finding Cork \u201cquite different to the Cork we left, even though we\u2019d have been back a bit over the years\u201d. He says: \u201cYou partly feel an outsider when you\u2019re in the UK. But then you\u2019re partly an outside when you come back … We have to rediscover things and we\u2019re out of the loop.\u201d <\/p>\n

He observes Cork to be a very \u201cbusy\u201d city now. \u201cVery cosmopolitan, as well. Lots of young people, lots of energy. You\u2019ve got great choices of restaurants. The kids were looking for Lebanese one night, like you would do in west London, and we found one, which you certainly wouldn\u2019t have done a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan is happy with his decision to come home but adds: \u201cYou\u2019ll always miss London. It\u2019s a very vibrant city, but then we\u2019re fortunate it\u2019s so close.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

The LGBT communities, they are accepted in Pakistan. They\u2019re part of the culture<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Sister Rebecca Conlon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He thinks there has been a change in the sense of community that he remembers, suggesting it \u201cprobably isn\u2019t as strong\u201d as before. He admits there has been a lot to arrange. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do first come back, there\u2019s an awful lot of jobs to do that are hidden. You\u2019re trying to get schools sorted … get housing sorted. In my case, keep clients.\u201d He\u2019s a consultant who helps tech companies grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely miss it, but we\u2019re very happy to be back in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sister Rebecca Conlon (78), from Clare<\/a>, returned to Ireland in 2023 having lived and worked as a missionary in Pakistan for 33 years. She is now living in Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it,\u201d she says of Pakistan<\/a>. \u201cNo place like it\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"SisterSister Rebecca Conlon returned to an unrecognisable Ireland after 33 years as a missionary in Pakistan <\/p>\n

Sr Rebecca is an occupational therapist. She worked in a psychiatric hospital and a women\u2019s jail. \u201cThe Christians are a minority. They are oppressed,\u201d she says. \u201cWe started a tuition centre specifically for Christians. Education for our Christian community over the years was not a value as such, because you needed food on the table.\u201d <\/p>\n

She was in her 40s when she left Ireland and found it to have changed \u201cdrastically\u201d on her return. \u201cSomebody said one time that a missionary, you\u2019ve no place. You\u2019re a stranger in your father\u2019s house … You\u2019ve missed out on all the years of growing up in Ireland, of working in Ireland.\u201d She compares it to feeling like a stranger \u201cin your own culture\u201d. <\/p>\n

Sr Rebecca explains her life in Pakistan prepared her for some changes. \u201cOne thing about all of that, is we that we lived with the people. And the people have the same problems. The LGBT communities, they are accepted in Pakistan. They\u2019re part of the culture. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0When you return home to Ireland from abroad, you notice that everyone is a little changedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a missionary, and in such a volatile situation, life was a mess all the time. Life is an absolute mess and you just try to get on with it and accompany people in their mess and our mess and the whole lot.\u201d <\/p>\n

What did she make of changes such as divorce, marriage equality and repealing the eighth amendment? \u201cIreland wanted it,\u201d she replies.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t \u201cadjusted yet\u201d, to being home. \u201cI\u2019m trying to navigate my road really and truly. When I go into town, I feel very attracted to go over and talk to the Muslims at their table in front of the GPO. Because we had such a good experience as a group of Islam I\u2019ve come back here now with a feel for these people. I\u2019ve been changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting her experience of what Ireland used to be like, she says of Islam: \u201cwe were afraid of it\u201d. Ireland feels very different now, she says, \u201cbut I also see the problem of housing and I appreciate what\u2019s going on, the struggle and the pain on both sides. On the Irish side and on the migrant side\u201d.<\/p>\n

She finds it difficult to witness some of the more negative responses to immigrants, although she adds: \u201cThe influx was too much at one time, I would believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0This homesickness is not a yearning for return but rather for reconnectionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The hardest thing for her to adjust to, since her return, is the loss of young people to the Church. She has been sad to see the fall-off in faith in Ireland, but has hope for the future. <\/p>\n

Ireland has become \u201cmore international, with all the travel,\u201d she says. \u201cThe emigration of the young professionals … that to me is a huge lacuna in carrying on anything from the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard King, project manager at Crosscare Migrant Project<\/a>, says it can be a challenge for those returning to Ireland to find that their friends and previous networks have moved on significantly in life.<\/p>\n

People leave Ireland having friends they can easily socialise with at night and the weekend, he explains, and then return \u201cto people who\u2019ve got kids, they are carers, they\u2019ve got jobs. And that reintegration of lifestyle can be very different\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RichardRichard King of Crosscare Migrant Project says having a job to come home to can make the settling-in process much more manageable <\/p>\n

He suggests that if possible, people \u201ctest the waters a little bit\u201d by returning for a period that is more than \u201cjust a holiday\u201d. He points to the excitement of short holidays, during which people living here will make themselves available to meet because those living abroad are home for a short while, as opposed to the full return reality \u2013 \u201cwell now you\u2019re here we\u2019re not going to be dropping everything to head out and do stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also explains that how people feel about the return can depend on whether they returned by choice or as a result of changed circumstances. <\/p>\n

\n

It takes a good few years to get used to it, but I think we\u2019re just probably culturally more Australian than Irish<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Breda*<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When it comes to emotional preparations \u201cthere are great online support groups and networks out there\u201d, he advises. \u201cIn terms of the practicalities … very, very strongly lean on whatever family and friend networks you have to try to get accommodation and things like that sorted in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cReturning with a structure in place, like returning to a job … automatically creates the structure in your life that helps you do the other things.\u201d <\/p>\n

Breda*, who is in her 40s and lives in a rural area, left Ireland when she was 26. She met her Irish husband in Australia and lived there for 15 years before moving home four years ago with him and their children. \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty hard,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t probably know what we were coming back to as much. I read the papers … so I knew what was going on. But it\u2019s very different when you live here, as to what to expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a good few years to get used to it, but I think we\u2019re just probably culturally more Australian than Irish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the things Breda considers important now that she\u2019s a parent weren\u2019t on her radar, she explains, during her early years in Australia. \u201cIn your 20s, you don\u2019t care about healthcare. You don\u2019t care about anything. You really don\u2019t think of much else other than your salary and going out for the week. So we didn\u2019t probably know what we were coming back to as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living overseas gave her an insight into \u201chow different societies function,\u201d she says, adding she never realised \u201chow much of a nation of rule breakers we are in Ireland\u201d. She feels a lack of services in Ireland means \u201ceveryone\u2019s in it for themselves … Everyone has to fight to get something they should be able to access, like proper healthcare and the likes. Everyone calls in favours. There\u2019s no such thing as meritocracy. Everyone\u2019s skipping the queue and pushing everyone else\u2019s waiting back\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Brianna Parkins: I\u2019m the one who sought a life elsewhere, who am I to feel homesick?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we can\u2019t have nice things in this country. We can\u2019t because no one follows the rules.\u201d In Australia, Breda says she could access healthcare with relative ease. <\/p>\n

She adds of Ireland: \u201cWe got a rental because we knew someone. That means someone else who is desperate for a rental didn\u2019t get it. We came back in a housing crisis. We haven\u2019t been able to purchase a house, we\u2019ve been cut off so many times from other people that it\u2019s hopeless now. And moving to Dublin is hopeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breda and her husband commute to work. \u201cThere is no commuter train that gets us into an office for nine o\u2019clock in the morning. There is no road infrastructure to get there … All the companies are around Dublin, Cork and the likes, generally, so it has impacted your professional choices. I\u2019d really like if I worked part-time around the kids. But that flexibility isn\u2019t available. You see corporates talking about how everyone has to come back into the office now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breda says they have decided to return to Australia later this year. \u201cMy husband and I both worry excessively about our ageing parents [in Ireland]. It\u2019s a real concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia\u2019s not perfect. It\u2019s just that we had curated a life that was pretty close to it … and we hadn\u2019t realised you can\u2019t create that everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Name has been changed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland has undergone huge changes over the last number of decades. From the legalising of divorce, same-sex marriage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1128,79,1877,18,2215,19,17,2213,130,2214,2212],"class_list":{"0":"post-1789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cork","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-for-you","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-irish-abroad","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-pakistan","18":"tag-weekendreview"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}