Setting up or taking over a business anywhere is bound to have it’s challenges, let alone doing it away from home. But these Irish abroad have done just that.
Along the narrow, cobbled streets of the artisanal quarter of Cusco, Peru, is an atelier called Hilo, home to a slow fashion brand founded by Irishwoman Eibhlin Cassidy in 2003 in the historical centre of this ancient Inca capital high up in the Andes.
“Being part of a supportive community has helped me build a local client base, which adds to the many international clients who visit the store,” she says.
The Fermanagh woman’s business, which she describes as “elevated everyday wear with a twist”, was the only creative business on the street at one stage. “It’s now where Cusco and international creatives open up shop. It is full of little cates and artisan boutiques.”
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Mark Saunders is known for rescuing Laulhère, the oldest and last authentic French company making berets who supply the hats to French military, armies in Senegal, Chad and Kurdistan and police in Dubai – and that’s not including the berets sold in the fashion industry.
The Dublin man has lived in France for the last 30 years and has settled in the southwest of the country. The most recent step in his career has been to take over Christy Hats, the oldest and largest hat-making company in the world with a history dating back to 1773.
“We made all the Peaky Blinders hats and 250 for all the crew members (of the drama series). We made hats for Downton Abbey and more than 30 movie productions,” he says.
Saunders says brands like his are “on the verge of extinction, but I hope Christys will see another 250 years. I love what I do and taking on these challenges is how I keep motivated. I am 56 now and see this as the last chapter in my career.”
Beijing Correspondent Denis Staunton recently spoke to the Irish companies based in China, as well as Peter Markey, who chairs the Irish Chamber of Commerce in China.
Markey first went to China 30 years ago and has spent much of the past two decades in Shanghai, where he was a partner at EY until he retired in 2018.
He says the attitudes of the two nations can often benefit off one another in unexpected ways. “The Chinese have this reputation of working crazy hours and all the rest of it but that’s not the whole story. They quite like going out for a nice dinner and having fun with people.
“That’s really when the Irish attitude to having fun and letting the hair down a bit can really help with developing relationships.”
Ruairí Doyle has settled in Canada, though he had no intention to move from Ireland again after a three-year spell working for Google in London.
That was, however, until an opportunity arose with Press Reader in Dublin in 2017 and the rest, as they say, is history.
The job brought him to Vancouver and, in 2022, the Rathnew native was appointed chief executive. Now, he is enjoying the outdoor lifestyle in the thriving west-coast port city with his wife, Kim, and their two sons.
“It can be challenging at times, with me being from Ireland and Kim being from Quebec. We don’t have the support network of grandparents around. We do our best to instil a bit of Ireland and a bit of Quebec into the boys. We have hurleys and sliotars in the garden and maple syrup and cretons in the fridge.”
Meanwhile, columnist Laura Kennedy, who is based in Canberra, Australia, writes about the age-old saying that absence – or in this case, distance – makes the heart grow fonder and how she has relearned to be Irish and how to value the places she didn’t appreciate before.
This bittersweet part of emigration is shared by the expats down under that Padraig Collins spoke to.
Fildelma McCorry has been in Adelaide since 1999 and says she is there to stay. During last November‘s election campaign in the Republic, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said during a debate that he was “gonna get people’s children back from Australia”. McCorry was not impressed, though: “They always say that.”
She says one of her daughters could spend a year studying in Dublin as part of her course, but the cost would be far too high, as despite having an Irish passport, she would still be considered a foreign student.
“Until they make those things open for diaspora children, it [everything the Government says] is just rhetoric, it’s just talk.”
And, for the few weeks it was, Patsy McGarry looked at the role of the Irish diaspora in electing Pope Leo XIV. Sure you’ll find the Irish everywhere!
