A six-month planned trip to Spain after graduation turned into a lifelong love affair with the country for John McGrail. The Dubliner is now permanently settled in Madrid, where he works in financial services. From his base there, he enjoys the opportunities to explore the wider country in his free time.
Madrid’s central location opens up a lot of options. “One of the things I love about Madrid is that it is in the centre of the country. Go four or five hours north or south and you get a totally different experience. The scenery is very different.”
A typical weekend might see him visiting close friends in the north, exploring the Sierra mountains or trekking or cycling around remote villages. He can also hop on a plane to go farther afield.
“You can fly out on a Thursday night to Majorca. You could work remotely on the Friday, and you can have the weekend there. The last flight back to Madrid leaves around 11pm on a Sunday so you get in around midnight,” he says.
Another plus side of Madrid’s strong connectivity is that he regularly gets to host visitors from Ireland, with friends and family taking advantage of the regular 2½-hour flights to the Spanish capital.
McGrail graduated with a master’s in economics from UCD in 1992. A strong desire to travel took him to the picturesque village of Villaviciosa in the principality of Asturias, in the northwest of Spain, a region known for its rugged coastline, rich history and culture. He taught English while learning Spanish and graduated with a degree from the University of Salamanca.
Close bonds formed in his three years there continue to this day and when he returned to Ireland, two of the children of a family he got to know particularly well there came to live with him and subsequently secured jobs in Ireland. McGrail describes them as “like family” and he is godfather to one of their children.
“While I loved Spain, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my career teaching English, so I went back to Ireland, joined Ford through their graduate recruitment programme and I ended up working in Ford Credit in Dublin and London,” he recalls.
Subsequent career progression saw him move to banking, with Ulster Bank and then its parent RBS. This provided a path back to Spain in 2010, in the aftermath of the financial crash. “RBS had lent a lot of money is Spain so there were a lot of companies that needed to be restructured and when the opportunity came to move here, I was more than happy to take it up.”
A six-month assignment turned into a four-year stay and McGrail went on to join Goldman Sachs in Madrid before moving to his present firm, Servihabitat Servicios Inmobiliarios, where he leads a large team as head of non-performing loans.
Although McGrail has a circle of Irish people he meets from time to time and attends events organised by the Spanish Irish Business Network, he has always immersed himself in Spanish life and culture, which has helped him both personally and professionally. He enjoys the capital’s vibrant cultural life with his girlfriend Susana and takes a keen interest in history and politics.
“I think it is important to keep up with current affairs, so I like to read Spanish newspapers and to listen to the Spanish news on the radio to know what’s happening. I know people from other countries, and they tune in much more to the news and television services from their home countries.
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“If you are working in a country like Spain, in your meetings you need to demonstrate that you are aware of what’s going on – in my case that could be housing laws that are changing, for example, or legislation to protect borrowers, as well as general current affairs. Irish people in general are good at that because we are a smaller country and more open perhaps.”
Ireland and Spain have many cultural ties, he notes, and the large number of Spanish professionals who have spent time in Ireland learning English contributes to a greater understanding of Ireland than many people realise and is a demonstration of soft power.
The Spanish are more demonstrative, he says, and he enjoys the relaxed family-centred culture that sees children welcome in restaurants at night-time.
“There are stereotypes which may infer that Spaniards are not sincere, but that has not been my experience. People are people whenever you go. It has been my great fortune to have met some wonderful people here and created friendships which have lasted over 30 years.”
