The pull of Ireland

Guest post :

Brigitte from Brittany has this to say about our decision to move back to Ireland .....

I'm half-Irish/half-French and we moved to France in June 1996 with our three children for a new life in Brittany (where I was born). It was really "taking a blind leap" in those days, and even more difficult without internet to help you in those days.

Just like you, we had sold our house in Co Dublin and there was no going back. Even though I myself am half-French, it was a very difficult time settling in France, even though I had the advantage of having lived there up to the age of 17.  But still, the bureaucracy drove us crazy ("Vous avez un dossier"?). Dossier dossier, the favourite word of the French, right? You bring your car to the garage : "dossier". You go to buy a pair of glasses : "dossier". I'm sure you'll agree with me.

But there's always the pull of Ireland. There's no place like Ireland.  Landing at Dublin airport, or seeing the coast approach if you're on the ferry, how can one describe those emotions?! Ireland is not only a country, it's a person, that's the way I feel. I'd never feel that for France, even though my father was French and I was born there. 

So I totally understand your decision to move back to Ireland and well done on this hard decision which was not easy to take, I'm sure. You will appreciate Ireland all the more now, after your life in France. You will probably regret social security, and the wine  at 2.49€ (!), and the sun, but that's all, I'd say.  Your children will be happier in the Irish school system, which I now realise is not as stressful as the French system. Am I glad that my youngest has finished school, having just got her Bac, and that we don't have any more school-going children! The ongoing stress of the school marks, of the tests, the huge emphasis on maths, the long school days, the lack of personal development skills such as drama, sports, in schools, all that was wearying and I only realised that after moving to France.  Although I've just mentioned the negative aspects of the education system, it has to be said that we were able to put our children in very good schools for next to nothing, compared to the horrendous prices in Dublin, and they have been able to have good university education for also next to nothing!

Having said all that, we don't regret having moved to France (free education even up to third level, good health care), although we miss our family and friends in Ireland and going back on a visit is a tonic and the best medicine!

Having only now discovered your blog, I will read the other posts in it and wish you all the best in your move back. In your case, both of you are Irish, so I understand the pull back to Ireland. Your children are just at the right age for that decision. Our own children in 1996 when we moved to France were 7, 5 and 1, and we knew then, it was "now or never".  

All the very best, I hope you continue your blog, and also "bonne rentrée" in Ireland in September for your children!

Moving Back to Ireland

"You're doing what?" " You must be out of your fecking mind!" "I think you're very brave" ( sister in law) " You won't last pissing time" "Can I take your temperature?" These are the kind of reactions I'm getting when I tell people that we are leaving the Sunny South of France and moving back to the less sunnier climes of our native Ireland.

Summer Fashion - Ireland

We've spent 11 very happy years in our adopted country after falling in love with it on a ski trip in early 2002. We've lived our 30's here in France, settled down, had the babies, bought the house in suburbia, made a lovely circle of French and expat friends and now we've decided to head north, back to the bosom of the family and to an Ireland where we haven't lived in for over 15 years. Yep, I know ... and as the weather brightens up here, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe they are right, are we stark raving mad after all?
Then, I step outside of my bubble and I know I've made the right decision. The French are just not like us. They don't get us and we don't get them. I just can't see us growing old here, I want our children to be Irish and I want to feel like a part of the fabric of society.
Englishman, David Mitchell , author of Cloud Atlas, has upped sticks and relocated to Clonakilty in Ireland, where we are heading. He totally resonated with me in a recent article in the Irish Examiner
"At this stage in life, you need a good environment in which to bring up your children. After a while you need to be able to communicate with other parents at school, the people around you. It sounds simple and obvious and straightforward but in many many tracts of the world, it's not normal, it's not normal to be reasonably friendly to strangers."
He says "Why would anyone not want to live in West Cork?"
Look, I know that nowhere is perfect and we might be running back to somewhere sunny and warm after 5 minutes of life in the old sod, but it's now or never with the children , aged 6 and 8 , so here we go.
The house is sold, the one way tickets have been bought and the countdown is on.
57 days to go in France........ YIKES!!!!!!