‘In Ireland we have lost some the human connection in business dealings. In Uganda it is deeply valued’
Wild Geese: Living and working in Uganda, Declan Peppard ‘truly misses’ St Anne’s Park in Dublin
Wild Geese
Irish people working abroad tell their stories
‘Trades are very well paid here compared to anywhere else in the world I have been’
Wild Geese: Chris Kidney is a carpenter in Melbourne, Australia
An Irish businessman in Singapore: ‘You’ll get a year in jail if you are in a drunken brawl, so people don’t step out of line’
Wild Geese: Martin O’Regan has a leading role in a niche business in the island nation
An Irish woman in Malta: ‘I miss my family and the greenery of home but not the driving rain’
Solicitor Fiona Healy cites the lower cost of living, the international focus and the ease of doing business as reasons why she loves living on the Mediterranean island
Chef Ryan O’Sullivan: ‘I was like, I have to get back to the States and make something of myself’
O’Sullivan, who hails from Cork, won season 22 of Gordon Ramsay’s US television show Hell’s Kitchen
An Irishman in Paris: ‘Getting under the many layers of Parisian culture is a fascinating but neverending endeavour’
Wild Geese: Eoghan MacDonagh is a senior associate with the law firm Clifford Chance
‘In New York, everything has to be done yesterday’
Wild Geese: Sophie Colgan, New Jersey-based charity auctioneer
‘We have six cars, one for each of the kids and one for the dog, who has nerve issues’
Wild Geese: Jonathan O’Connor lives in Atlanta, Georgia
‘There are stereotypes which may infer Spaniards are not sincere, but that has not been my experience’
Wild Geese: For Dubliner John McGrail, what began as a six-month trip to Spain after graduation turned into a lifelong love affair with the country
‘In the US I found myself apologising for my humour, as in Ireland we are inclined to be sarcastic’
Wild Geese: Aedhmar Hynes, Connecticut
‘Being away for so long heightens your appreciation of how special Ireland is’
Wild Geese: Brian Horgan, Rhode Island
‘In New York, it doesn’t matter what you know, it’s who you know’
Wild Geese: Seamus Keane on leaving Mayo for the Big Apple and setting up a gym business
Primark’s Irish man in Spain: ‘We sell roughly the same number of coats in Madrid as we do in Dublin’
Wild Geese: Stephen Mullen, Madrid
‘I have a great friend here and his name is Santiago O’Reilly, which always makes me smile’
Wild Geese: Mike Gallagher works for US software company Switcher in Buenos Aires
‘The idea that there’s endless opportunity appeals to me’
Wild Geese: Alice Maria Murphy, California: 'I always knew I wanted to go and see what else was out there'
‘The work ethic here is unbelievable’: Meet the Dublin fashion designer who has created the Irish Olympic team’s costumes
Working on Jill Biden’s presidential inauguration outfit resulted in a spike in Weber’s public profile and her business has thrived since
‘Philadelphia has always played second fiddle to New York and we kind of like it that way’
Wild Geese: Declan Duggan builds up beverage brands in the US
A chance interview at ESB led to an international career in energy
Wild Geese: Catherine Hurley, Malta
Selling Ireland to the Spanish: ‘The majority prefer to stay at home, so you need to offer a strong proposition’
Wild Geese: Susan Bolger works for Tourism Ireland in Madrid
‘This is a land that is all about giving people a go’
Wild Geese: Colm Hamrogue, Christchurch, New Zealand
Irish in Germany: ‘There’s a good appreciation of work-life balance’ but ‘in the beginning you can easily fall foul of the rules’
Wild Geese: Claire Molloy, Munich
‘Galway is a very cosmopolitan place. New York is that on a gargantuan scale’
Wild Geese: Paul Finnegan, New York city
‘The Swedes probably have a better work-life balance to what we have in Ireland’
Wild Geese: Mark Duffy, Stockholm
Tapping into an ‘enjoyably relentless’ pace of life
Wild Geese: Rob Allen, London: ‘I was flat out dealing with the international media and helping to brief four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski’
‘There’s 30 Irish people in Brandon, Canada. You miss the craic living in a small place’
Wild Geese: Jennifer Murray balances a job in Tour America in Canada, with other interests
‘I feel I am in the centre of Europe. Once you live in a big city, it is difficult to move to a smaller place’
Wild Geese: Brian O’Farrell lives in Berlin and works in a recruitment agency to match applications with an employer
‘I’ve certainly had career opportunities in the US I would never have had at home’
Wild Geese: Tralee woman Margaret Faul chased dream of working in early stage development of medicine
The Irish woman opening the door for high-end brands in a Canadian city with a ‘fabulous quality of life’
Jane Hanrahan cofounded a brand-positioning consultancy in Toronto, where the Irish are viewed as hard-working, well educated and kindred spirits
Katie Boyle, an Irish comedian in New York: ‘I wouldn’t have done stand-up in Ireland, because everyone’s funny there’
Wild Geese: Katie Boyle also ‘wouldn’t have had the confidence. I’d have been mortified’
‘When you are Irish, there’s a red carpet out for you in this town’
Recruitment consultant Catherine Flood has devoted much of her life to helping Irish people get a start in New York
Irishman in Atlanta: ‘Working in hotels seemed a hell of a lot nicer than being a farmer’
Wild Geese: Winters are mild, and Atlanta is known as the city in the forest. ‘Life is great’ for Peter Clarke
Dublin man a rising star in Australian insurance industry
Wild Geese: Tom Hatton — followed the well-worn path of many Irish ex-pats before him, heading for Sydney
‘There have been Sundays when I wished I could just sit on the couch and look out the window at the rain’
Wild Geese: Andrew Fitzgerald, San Diego
‘With my surname, everyone assumed I was German and fluent in the language. I hadn’t a word’
Wild Geese: Steven Stein, Barcelona
An Irish lawyer in New York: ‘NY demands your full commitment to work. It suits me’
Michelle Oliver’s decision to move to New York when she qualified from UCD turned out to be the easy part
The Dublin chef who got his big US break on Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen
From ‘terrorising’ the streets of Rathfarnham as a youngster to finishing third on Hell’s Kitchen, Irish chef Declan Horgan has had a culinary career spanning 25 years
‘Cayman has been a great place to live, but my closest friends would still be Irish’
Accountant Chris Kennedy lives on ‘a tiny island where you pay no tax and live on a beach’
‘Austin is known for being the blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas’
Wild Geese: Eoin Sorohan’s adopted home city is an oasis of liberalism in the Lone Star State
‘Māori are not entirely unlike the Irish in terms of sense of humour and ties to the land, family, song and culture’
Wild Geese: Gerry Paul, New Zealand
The Irish woman recruiting chief executives for South African firms
Wild Geese: ‘The French have a lovely saying that every client wants a sheep with five legs’
‘Coming from a farming background you have an entrepreneurial spirit within you’
Wild Geese: Seamus Pentony swapped dairy farming for recruitment and now lives in Poland
Irish background a ‘distinct advantage’ in high-profile international arbitration role
Erasmus-year romance set Mullingar law graduate Niamh Leinwather on path to a career at Austrian branch of top firm Freshfields
‘I can have a cup of coffee here in Valencia for €1.50 ... It is much less expensive to live here’
Wild Geese: Conor Wilde, an estate agent from Skerries, settled in the Spanish city in 2000
Studying languages ‘put me in the room’ in business in Latin America
Wild Geese: Nicholas O’Connor, Santiago, Chile
Irish woman in Guernsey: Moving to somewhere I didn’t know a soul wasn’t in any of my plans
Dubliner Jenny O’Brien, who has three children and works as a nurse in Guernsey , has become a best-selling crime novelist
An Irishman in Dubai: ‘We are there to do business, not to judge any culture’
Wild Geese: Understanding cultural differences is the key to success in the Middle East, says Michael Connolly
‘Don’t box yourself into one industry, because your knowledge can be adapted’
Wild Geese: Niamh Keohan, founder of We Love Transformational Travel, is based in Dubai
Arc de Triomphe hosts military ceremony to remember the Irish who fought in the service of France
Event marks 220 years to the day since Napoleon created the Irish Legion
Medical debt kickstarted a new life after a working holiday gone wrong
Wild Geese: Brian Buffini, San Diego
‘Chile is an amazing country for astronomy. It’s one of the top places in the world in terms of the clarity of the night sky’
Wild Geese: Evelyn Johnston, Santiago, Chile
An Irishwoman working for a Japanese company in France: ‘I wouldn’t be anywhere else’
Wild Geese: Dr Clíodhna Lyons has worked for Nissan since 2006 and is now based in Paris
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices