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As a gay woman, Kate initially found it easier to live in London. “because it’s a bigger city”. “In 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’d be judging me. It was still very taboo here at the time,” she says.
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Kate Gleeson feels safer back at home in Waterford after nine years in London, but it has been a big adjustment. Photograph: Patrick Browne
She notes the increased number of non-nationals living in Waterford, saying it “doesn’t bother me in the slightest”. “I think it’s a natural progression in this world and that’s how it should be. We’ve been taken in all over the world, why shouldn’t we take people in?”
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Alan Gleeson (no relation to Kate) is 51. He moved home to Cork in September 2024 after 25 years in Britain.
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Returning to Cork after 25 years in London, Alan Gleeson admits to feeling like something of an outsider. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
When it comes to emotional preparations “there are great online support groups and networks out there”, he advises. “In 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.
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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. “It’s been pretty hard,” she says.
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Many of the things Breda considers important now that she’s a parent weren’t on her radar, she explains, during her early years in Australia. “In your 20s, you don’t care about healthcare. You don’t care about anything. You really don’t think of much else other than your salary and going out for the week. So we didn’t probably know what we were coming back to as much.”
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“This is why we can’t have nice things in this country. We can’t because no one follows the rules.” In Australia, Breda says she could access healthcare with relative ease.
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Breda and her husband commute to work. “There is no commuter train that gets us into an office for nine o’clock 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’d really like if I worked part-time around the kids. But that flexibility isn’t available. You see corporates talking about how everyone has to come back into the office now.”
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Breda and her husband commute to work. “There is no commuter train that gets us into an office for nine o’clock 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’d really like if I worked part-time around the kids. But that flexibility isn’t available. You see corporates talking about how everyone has to come back into the office now.”
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Breda says they have decided to return to Australia later this year. “My husband and I both worry excessively about our ageing parents [in Ireland]. It’s a real concern.
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“Australia’s not perfect. It’s just that we had curated a life that was pretty close to it ... and we hadn’t realised you can’t create that everywhere.”
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“Australia’s not perfect. It’s just that we had curated a life that was pretty close to it ... and we hadn’t realised you can’t create that everywhere.”
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