I left Ireland in '93 and ended up in California. I have a great life here - wife, kids, comfortable living, plenty of work, weather (except the last 3 weeks), the list goes on... I am truly grateful for it and that's what I set out to achieve. However, for me anyway, there will always be a level of loneliness or homesickness even after almost 30 years. I have plenty of great friends here which I am also thankful for, but you are always an outsider to a certain degree. For example a lot of the references in conversations go way over my head still because I didn't grow up in this country. Even still some words I might use to describe something would be met with a vacant stare. In a way it is similar when you go back home for a visit - you are still a kind of an outsider. You have a great time meeting old friends and family, going for a pint, or to see a hurling match but there is a connection that is not there any more - probably because you haven't lived there for the past 30years. My wife once jokingly said "you are the man without a country" without any prompting from me and to some extent she it right - that is what happens when you emigrate. All that being said, I will always be Irish and Ireland will always be my home. I don't regret emigrating but there is a certain part of you that you give up as alluded to in the video. Anyway - thats how I see it. "Your mileage may vary" as they say here, or do we say that in Ireland too? I have to ask myself this question at least twice a day.
That’s an interesting comment. It’s something I’ve witnessed from the other side. People coming home and not realising the changes since they’ve left. Or the slow realisation after many years that the place they’ve left has changed utterly. Pubs shut, the old characters dead and gone, the whole rhythm of life changed. The lads who always swore they’d return but realise one day that their wife is American, their kids are American and they couldn’t tell you the name of a single county player or who the captain of the Irish rugby team is. It’s always sadder when the emigration was forced by circumstance. More recent emigrants who left a decent job because they fancied going to Australia for the lifestyle don’t illicit the same sympathy.
I went to America on a Donnelly visa in '93 as well but came home and settled here again around the year 2000, Some days I'm sorry I didn't stay in the States tbh, but this isn't the same country you left in '93, some things are better, some are worse, I think the craic was better years ago though for sure, Not sure how you cope with the political bs and gun culture bs over there though, I can't believe the mess the USA is in nowadays.
Year 2006. I encountered a young lady in her teens while collecting money for the Polish charity (kids to be more precise) on Corkish streets. After a small talk with her where I've been trying to explain to her the purpose of me holding the collection box, she blithely claimed Poland was a shit country. I was a bit sad but even then I probably knew the history of Ireland better than she did, starting from Brian Boru, through English occupation, mid-19th century blight, Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence. Irish emigration to the US and England was also in my mind. After 10 years living in Ireland I left this marvy country with the Irish Passport in my pocket and returned to my motherland to live my life there. After all these years I have a vivid memory of that encounter and can't wrap my head around the way how she perceived my country basing her knowledge on her current live only, living in unprecedented prosperity and well-being. It wasn't always like that on the Emeralnd Island, was it? Anyway, Ireland will always be in my heart till my very end and I'll probably spend my last days somewhere in the vicinity of Mizen Head binge drinking with my fellow Irish bogtrotters😀
You mean typical Irish people also have that British insularity? Btw, how's it in Poland? I ask because of the attitudes in Ukraine towards non-white refugees.
@@ColtraneTaylor Well, I'd never paint a typical Irish person in a bad light and would rarher say that such situations are incidental. Hostilities against minorities happen and will always do in every country in the world and it's a complex issue how they arise. And again, many people are duplicitous and say something to you but tottaly different thing when they're eating dinner with their families. Such is a human nature and this is far better than physical or verbal agression on the streets or creating a bad environment for your fellow man. Never have I had any problems with either blacks or other peoples of colour. This isnt what determines whether I like someone or not. I'm not a believer but I have very strong morals and dont accept agression or injustice and almost always react somehow when I see it around me. And yes, I observe it both in Ukraine and Poland towards black folks. But have also seen it in Scotland and Ireland
Well Declan, Im looking at the commenys section..in part all the comments are true..from my time in England I can certainly vouch that many Irish men built their famous navigation systems for transporting goods on the canals ( hence the derogatory term "Navvie") Plenty Irishmen builtmtheir major motorways.under the harhest living conditions. In addition to that many were involved in their underground system in London..and certainly in the later years pulling cable at night in the underground system and also laying fibre optic cable for the tech infrastructure... Our women were also.involved in Nursing and Catering..we certainly.helped the British economy..Nowadays in Ireland our largest immigrant import are the English..they certainly wont have the staying power to build much. Thankfully our youth.are educated to a higher standard than the uk population which so many educated to University level and beyond, andxour boys and girls dont have to work in menial jobs anymore.Gid bless Ireland
Happening all over again. I'm in my late 20s (27) and my most of my generation are moving abroad for work reasons (UK, Australia, Canada, Central Europe). Planing on moving to London myself in the next year for work reasons . I work in IT and I can earn better money (a lot) and the rent is cheaper and better value in comparison to Dublin. I belive in the next few years Ireland will go through another brain drain like we did in 2008-2013. Educated young working professionals like myself are starting to realise there is better opportunities and values overseas.
Not so sure, me and my brother are in the middle of getting irish passports (grandparent born there), and moving my IT business over (or at least the business address) so I can carry on the work I was doing in Germany. Who knows what will come of it..
@@KolyaNickD Best of luck to you 👍Hope it goes well. I suppose every situation is different. Housing and very high rents in particular is one of the biggest push pull factors contributing to young talent moving overseas.
Sorry I re read and noticed you are heading to London, you will have to move way out of the city to get comparable rents to Dublin though, im 38 so I witnessed the brain drain amongst my friends, most have come home. A couple settled in Perth and Ottawa and have a great life. This house shortage is a worldwide issue though
If you are in IT and have good qualifications come to Singapore. Great weather, food and great lifestyle and excellent base for travelling around Asia. Also a very safe place to live. However, rent has just suddenly got expensive, but your young and you can always share a flat with someone to start off with. You're welcome. ☺
I wish there was a video about Canadians who emigrate to the USA, but we are so similar to Americans that most would consider it not worth watching. But even after 30 years, I still feel like a foreigner, and for me the move was from Vancouver to Seattle, just down the road. But the two peoples, while quite similar, are in certain areas profoundly different.
My Grandad left his beloved Cork and arrived in London in 1952 , worked as a cleaner, a labourer, and a builder. Loved to sing the Irish tunes and could sink a pint of Guinness like no other. I can't tell you how much I miss him.
Half Irish and English, the work ethic from my Irish father was off the scale! He went through all the racist BS, paddy can't do this or that, but beat them at their own game. Brought us up as English (not British) and taught us political consciousness. Dont sit on your arse waiting for salvation or retribution, work with what you have. When I went home as a kid, yes we discussed the political and economic origins of why things were today in terms of reference, but we "assimilated " . That's the succes of the Irish, unlike others, especially in my old turf of South London. Nuff said 😂
Bishop Casey (he - as the then Fr Casey is the articulate man speaking midway in the sketch) was such a caring considerate man. He did my confirmation when he was bishop of Kerry. It was such a pity what happened to him and the way he was treated by the holier than thou Irish biddy's and not one honest or true Christian among them.
Yes, I thought it was (then Father) Casey. It's funny how everyone tried to claim him as their own. When he was appointed bishop of Kerry, an obnoxious C Brother, principal at school, told us that Casey was a Limerick man,(that city having given birth to the principal). It was sad really how his earlier idols turned against him for doing what most of us do.
Like many people they came in search of a better life, and who could blame them, Ireland was extremely poor in the 1960’s, and Britain at the time had the larger variety of jobs with much better pay than they would have had back in Ireland. It wasn’t until the “Celtic tiger” economic boost of the late nineties/ early two thousands that Ireland managed to achieve a significant amount of prosperity nationally.
Homesickness one of the worst sicknesses of all....but without the UK where would they have gone? It’s the one thing the UK gave us was employment... unless it was a NO IRISH NO BLACKS NO DOGS place. They worked very very hard and sent money home ... most of them.
There not sitting around staying in hotels getting government welfare are they,or been put in local towns staying in the only hotels,are they fighting with locals at nite time, are they raping women where 10 women were raped by foreign migrants in dec alone no, are they costing the tax payer over 10 million a month no.
@@eannnna81 Wow how many spoofs can you squeeze into a paragraph! Lies, fear, hatred. If you have to spoof and exagerrate to spread your message then maybe your message isn't worth a shite. What ever happened to all the anti-vax rubbish yous were spreading a few months ago? Noone grew 6 heads so you all quietly dropped that. We're onto spitting on refugees now.
@@kelzuya I’m double vexed couldn’t care less about it plus I’ve 3 passports and worked all over the world don’t have issues with people wanting to look for a better life but don’t come looking for handouts life isn’t free
In ww2 British lost 60,000 men in the battle of Atlantic , 60,000 men Air war against nazi Germany , nearly 60,000 to the blitzs on Cities men woman and young children ,london Birmingham manchester Coventry liverpool, so British were short of manpower The Irish did Roadwork and building work while The English Scottish and Welsh had farming ,mining and steel and chemical works ,plus shipping all labour intensive trades at the time 🤔🙉🙊🙈
It always amuses me when Brits think they are superior to the Irish. The Irish are sooo good looking for one. No milquetoasts here. The Brits are great at covert sarcasm though. Cowardly way though imo
Yes all of Oaiss, the smiths, dusty Springfield, Kevin Rowland, boy George, all fully Irish born to two Irish immigrants and that's just singers I've missed a lot out
@@yankeeskunkee8519the Brits looked diwn at them like anyone would look down on a dirty neighbour massing up your clean street, being drunk and causing trouble every day in the streets
I left Ireland in '93 and ended up in California. I have a great life here - wife, kids, comfortable living, plenty of work, weather (except the last 3 weeks), the list goes on... I am truly grateful for it and that's what I set out to achieve.
However, for me anyway, there will always be a level of loneliness or homesickness even after almost 30 years. I have plenty of great friends here which I am also thankful for, but you are always an outsider to a certain degree. For example a lot of the references in conversations go way over my head still because I didn't grow up in this country. Even still some words I might use to describe something would be met with a vacant stare. In a way it is similar when you go back home for a visit - you are still a kind of an outsider. You have a great time meeting old friends and family, going for a pint, or to see a hurling match but there is a connection that is not there any more - probably because you haven't lived there for the past 30years. My wife once jokingly said "you are the man without a country" without any prompting from me and to some extent she it right - that is what happens when you emigrate.
All that being said, I will always be Irish and Ireland will always be my home. I don't regret emigrating but there is a certain part of you that you give up as alluded to in the video.
Anyway - thats how I see it. "Your mileage may vary" as they say here, or do we say that in Ireland too? I have to ask myself this question at least twice a day.
That was interesting and nicely put. Thanks.
Your really not missing much here in ireland..
I feel like packing up myself
That’s an interesting comment. It’s something I’ve witnessed from the other side. People coming home and not realising the changes since they’ve left. Or the slow realisation after many years that the place they’ve left has changed utterly. Pubs shut, the old characters dead and gone, the whole rhythm of life changed.
The lads who always swore they’d return but realise one day that their wife is American, their kids are American and they couldn’t tell you the name of a single county player or who the captain of the Irish rugby team is.
It’s always sadder when the emigration was forced by circumstance. More recent emigrants who left a decent job because they fancied going to Australia for the lifestyle don’t illicit the same sympathy.
I went to America on a Donnelly visa in '93 as well but came home and settled here again around the year 2000,
Some days I'm sorry I didn't stay in the States tbh, but this isn't the same country you left in '93, some things are better, some are worse, I think the craic was better years ago though for sure,
Not sure how you cope with the political bs and gun culture bs over there though, I can't believe the mess the USA is in nowadays.
@@roadwarrior8560what’s a Donnelly visa?
Irish are so beautiful. Must have been centuries of pure food and clean air. Love from 🇬🇷!!!
In Irish mythology, Some of the first tribes to inhabit Ireland, the Parthalonians, the Formorians and the Tuatha de dannan came here from Greece ☘♥️
@@user-bk2yi5jx2o that's interesting. Didn't know that. I guess the environment and diet also influences one's looks too. Thanks.
Thanks.
Same could be said about loads of places, Norway, Iceland, Britanny, Hokkaido Japan
No more more of that, Plastic pollution has contaminated everywhere on this earth
Year 2006. I encountered a young lady in her teens while collecting money for the Polish charity (kids to be more precise) on Corkish streets. After a small talk with her where I've been trying to explain to her the purpose of me holding the collection box, she blithely claimed Poland was a shit country. I was a bit sad but even then I probably knew the history of Ireland better than she did, starting from Brian Boru, through English occupation, mid-19th century blight, Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence. Irish emigration to the US and England was also in my mind. After 10 years living in Ireland I left this marvy country with the Irish Passport in my pocket and returned to my motherland to live my life there. After all these years I have a vivid memory of that encounter and can't wrap my head around the way how she perceived my country basing her knowledge on her current live only, living in unprecedented prosperity and well-being. It wasn't always like that on the Emeralnd Island, was it? Anyway, Ireland will always be in my heart till my very end and I'll probably spend my last days somewhere in the vicinity of Mizen Head binge drinking with my fellow Irish bogtrotters😀
You mean typical Irish people also have that British insularity?
Btw, how's it in Poland? I ask because of the attitudes in Ukraine towards non-white refugees.
@@ColtraneTaylor Well, I'd never paint a typical Irish person in a bad light and would rarher say that such situations are incidental. Hostilities against minorities happen and will always do in every country in the world and it's a complex issue how they arise. And again, many people are duplicitous and say something to you but tottaly different thing when they're eating dinner with their families. Such is a human nature and this is far better than physical or verbal agression on the streets or creating a bad environment for your fellow man. Never have I had any problems with either blacks or other peoples of colour. This isnt what determines whether I like someone or not. I'm not a believer but I have very strong morals and dont accept agression or injustice and almost always react somehow when I see it around me. And yes, I observe it both in Ukraine and Poland towards black folks. But have also seen it in Scotland and Ireland
The men who built the UK 🇮🇪👍🏻☘️☘️☘️
100 %..
they are Irish not Scots
The UK was built long before the Irish went there
They played a small part adding to what was already there. Britain has fantastic buildings from across the centuries. So don't kid yourself.
Well Declan, Im looking at the commenys section..in part all the comments are true..from my time in England I can certainly vouch that many Irish men built their famous navigation systems for transporting goods on the canals ( hence the derogatory term "Navvie") Plenty Irishmen builtmtheir major motorways.under the harhest living conditions. In addition to that many were involved in their underground system in London..and certainly in the later years pulling cable at night in the underground system and also laying fibre optic cable for the tech infrastructure... Our women were also.involved in Nursing and Catering..we certainly.helped the British economy..Nowadays in Ireland our largest immigrant import are the English..they certainly wont have the staying power to build much. Thankfully our youth.are educated to a higher standard than the uk population which so many educated to University level and beyond, andxour boys and girls dont have to work in menial jobs anymore.Gid bless Ireland
Happening all over again. I'm in my late 20s (27) and my most of my generation are moving abroad for work reasons (UK, Australia, Canada, Central Europe). Planing on moving to London myself in the next year for work reasons . I work in IT and I can earn better money (a lot) and the rent is cheaper and better value in comparison to Dublin. I belive in the next few years Ireland will go through another brain drain like we did in 2008-2013. Educated young working professionals like myself are starting to realise there is better opportunities and values overseas.
Not so sure, me and my brother are in the middle of getting irish passports (grandparent born there), and moving my IT business over (or at least the business address) so I can carry on the work I was doing in Germany. Who knows what will come of it..
@@KolyaNickD Best of luck to you 👍Hope it goes well. I suppose every situation is different. Housing and very high rents in particular is one of the biggest push pull factors contributing to young talent moving overseas.
Where can you go that is cheaper? Canada, U.K., Australia and US have all got insane rents, if not worse.
Sorry I re read and noticed you are heading to London, you will have to move way out of the city to get comparable rents to Dublin though, im 38 so I witnessed the brain drain amongst my friends, most have come home. A couple settled in Perth and Ottawa and have a great life. This house shortage is a worldwide issue though
If you are in IT and have good qualifications come to Singapore. Great weather, food and great lifestyle and excellent base for travelling around Asia. Also a very safe place to live. However, rent has just suddenly got expensive, but your young and you can always share a flat with someone to start off with. You're welcome. ☺
I wish there was a video about Canadians who emigrate to the USA, but we are so similar to Americans that most would consider it not worth watching. But even after 30 years, I still feel like a foreigner, and for me the move was from Vancouver to Seattle, just down the road. But the two peoples, while quite similar, are in certain areas profoundly different.
Awesome video 👍🍀
My Grandad left his beloved Cork and arrived in London in 1952 , worked as a cleaner, a labourer, and a builder. Loved to sing the Irish tunes and could sink a pint of Guinness like no other. I can't tell you how much I miss him.
Those houses converted in to hostels are now worth MILLIONS
Bacon and Cabbage and a pint.
Superb stuff.
Half Irish and English, the work ethic from my Irish father was off the scale! He went through all the racist BS, paddy can't do this or that, but beat them at their own game. Brought us up as English (not British) and taught us political consciousness. Dont sit on your arse waiting for salvation or retribution, work with what you have. When I went home as a kid, yes we discussed the political and economic origins of why things were today in terms of reference, but we "assimilated " . That's the succes of the Irish, unlike others, especially in my old turf of South London. Nuff said 😂
Bishop Casey (he - as the then Fr Casey is the articulate man speaking midway in the sketch) was such a caring considerate man. He did my confirmation when he was bishop of Kerry. It was such a pity what happened to him and the way he was treated by the holier than thou Irish biddy's and not one honest or true Christian among them.
Your right, every man is entitled to his hole…
What happened to him?
Yes, I thought it was (then Father) Casey.
It's funny how everyone tried to claim him as their own. When he was appointed bishop of Kerry, an obnoxious C Brother, principal at school, told us that Casey was a Limerick man,(that city having given birth to the principal).
It was sad really how his earlier idols turned against him for doing what most of us do.
The Irish government should be financing Irish advice centres in large UK cities..
They do enough damage already. They need to concentrate on their own country.
Yes I worked with Scottish carpenter and an Irish carpenter the Irish carpenter liked a drink on the weekends I can tell you good skilled men !
A wonderful service
After hearing that racket from Lulu attempting to sing I wouldn’t blame them if they schlepped back to the Emerald Isle pronto..
Fresh faced handsome lads,what a loss to the green isle
Sometimes it seems like it was easy for them to just get up and immigrate. I guess they had friends to help them do it.
The roots of John Lennon and Paul McCartney..
And George..
@@lewisgreen2957 And George!
Dusty Springfield, all of oasis and the smiths, boy George, Kevin Rowland. All were born to two Irish immigrant parents
Pretty condescending to call them "boys and girls"
Like many people they came in search of a better life, and who could blame them, Ireland was extremely poor in the 1960’s, and Britain at the time had the larger variety of jobs with much better pay than they would have had back in Ireland. It wasn’t until the “Celtic tiger” economic boost of the late nineties/ early two thousands that Ireland managed to achieve a significant amount of prosperity nationally.
Homesickness one of the worst sicknesses of all....but without the UK where would they have gone? It’s the one thing the UK gave us was employment... unless it was a NO IRISH NO BLACKS NO DOGS place. They worked very very hard and sent money home ... most of them.
No Irish, no blacks, no dogs is not true.
It certainly was true
It was true I was in england from 1960 till1973 best thing I ever did came back to ireland
Irish economic migrants. Unvetted men of fighting age. Never forget your history.
There not sitting around staying in hotels getting government welfare are they,or been put in local towns staying in the only hotels,are they fighting with locals at nite time, are they raping women where 10 women were raped by foreign migrants in dec alone no, are they costing the tax payer over 10 million a month no.
@@eannnna81 Wow how many spoofs can you squeeze into a paragraph!
Lies, fear, hatred. If you have to spoof and exagerrate to spread your message then maybe your message isn't worth a shite.
What ever happened to all the anti-vax rubbish yous were spreading a few months ago? Noone grew 6 heads so you all quietly dropped that. We're onto spitting on refugees now.
@@kelzuya I’m double vexed couldn’t care less about it plus I’ve 3 passports and worked all over the world don’t have issues with people wanting to look for a better life but don’t come looking for handouts life isn’t free
@@eannnna81 3 passports, doubled 'vexed', worked all over the world. You're going to tell more lies? Full o shite.
@@kelzuya u want to believe it lies so it fits you,re narrow minded ego
In ww2 British lost 60,000 men in the battle of Atlantic , 60,000 men Air war against nazi Germany , nearly 60,000 to the blitzs on Cities men woman and young children ,london Birmingham manchester Coventry liverpool, so British were short of manpower The Irish did Roadwork and building work while The English Scottish and Welsh had farming ,mining and steel and chemical works ,plus shipping all labour intensive trades at the time 🤔🙉🙊🙈
Irish migrating to Britain
Is like people from wisconson moving to minnesota 😊
It always amuses me when Brits think they are superior to the Irish. The Irish are sooo good looking for one. No milquetoasts here. The Brits are great at covert sarcasm though. Cowardly way though imo
What about the way America treated the native Americans and the African Americans.
@@Kevin-lf4xx Is there a competition for historical horrors going on ? It's not a contest.
Yes all of Oaiss, the smiths, dusty Springfield, Kevin Rowland, boy George, all fully Irish born to two Irish immigrants and that's just singers I've missed a lot out
The Irish has a strong belief in their white superiority, until they were humbled by the Brits
@@yankeeskunkee8519the Brits looked diwn at them like anyone would look down on a dirty neighbour massing up your clean street, being drunk and causing trouble every day in the streets