News from Ireland

 Friends

As we come back around to St. Patricks Day pretty much a year has passed since we left Australia.  It's a source of genuine embarrassment that I've so miserably failed in keeping up some decent level of contact - please don't take that as any sign of insult, instead a reflection of a very tumultuous year for us.  Firstly, I hope this finds you and your families well in both body and in spirit. I miss your friendship and the weekly dose of humanity that I received when in your company.  While there is much talk in the media and elsewhere about supplementing our physical health with vitamins, I think the restorative powers of a good belly laugh (which I often experienced in your company) are much underrated. In the paragraphs that follow I'll do my best to bring you all up to speed with our goings on since we left Australia.

On our way back to Ireland in April last we stopped off in Western Australia and headed down to Busselton, Pemberton and the marvels of the Margaret River area.  It was a great way for us to have some time together as a family following the emotion of leaving and before the excitement and challenge of arriving and trying to settle.  

We landed back to the warm embrace of family and that aspect has, as expected, been very enriching for us and the kids as they get to know their cousins, especially some of the newer arrivals.  The Lardner generation that my kids fall into has 17 (and shortly to be 18) members so always a crowd for family occasions!

We had thought prior to coming home that we'd fall into a new house given the weakness of the property market but that proved less straightforward than we planned as there is little incentive for the those in homes to sell unless there is some change in circumstances that is prompting it - we did eventually buy a house in late September which we will need to do work on - at this stage we've gone through the design and planning permission processes which took a while so hopefully work will start in the next few weeks and we can move in by September. In the meantime we moved back into our old house (the one we lived in before leaving for Australia) and that has been strange because while familiar to myself and Sinead we know its only a staging point and I think it's only when we are in our new home can we say we are really settled.  For Sinead in particular this is really important so please God all will go to plan.  It's only when we move in can I get the container of our stuff from Melbourne emptied and put my RCBN Sherrin in its rightful place of honor!!

The kids have settled well in school and perversely the older ones even better than the younger ones which is not what we would have expected.  The biggest complaints are that they get way more homework (little sympathy being expressed here) and coping with the Irish language which the three younger children have to learn.  Sports wise Kate, our eldest, is playing hockey as no netball played here and the younger ones are variously involved in rugby, basketball and tennis with an odd bit of horse-riding when we go down the country.

The job has been "full on" but really enjoying it. It's a mix of many things including trying to influence government, working with the Central Bank of Ireland (think of a mixture of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Securities and Exchange Commission) around regulation and of course promoting the industry overseas.  I've covered good ground and in the 11 months have been to Hong Kong three times, the US twice (currently flying to LA and did events in Chicago, Boston and NY last week), the UK and Brussels  half a dozen times each with Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China (Beijing and Shezhen)  and South Africa thrown in for good measure. There lots of work to do and unlike a conventional commercial entity we have fewer levers to pull in terms of revenue but I can see a number of ways to improve what we do and hopefully that will bring more activity and badly needed jobs to Ireland.  While the economy here is making forward steps there are many with high levels of personal debt or who have lost jobs so there is financial stress on many families and the government has raised taxes and cut spending to move the country away from needing funding from the European Union and the IMF. The population here have had to swallow a fair bit of "austerity" and have done so with a good amount of poise and are getting some recognition from overseas that we are putting our house order. I hope that the work that we do in some small way contributes to an improvement in the situation.  We are lucky in that we didn't have the debt issues of others and our time in Australia meant we missed the first 3/4 years of a painful adjustment process.

Richard Potter was in touch and enquiring if I had joined another Rotary club - not yet as I always figured that it would take a good year to settle and given that is up I better get on my bike!  I have been approached about going on the Board of a Charity that provides social finance to local initiatives that create employment or build stronger communities locally around the country so much to ponder!

Well, I am soon to land in LA and need to put this gadget away - it is our hope as a family to pay a visit to Melbourne once the kids get their summer holidays in late June or July - will keep you posted but for the meantime stay well and keep fighting the good fight!!

Warmest regards

Pat