Laois emigration stories- from Portlaoise to Perth

Throughout history, Ireland has seen its people emigrate in droves. Be it due to the Famine of the 1840s, or the economic crisis of the 1950’s, we have always seen our people leave to pursue a better life elsewhere.

Why are our family and friends still forced to leave home to achieve a comfortable existence? 

The Leinster Express/Laois Live spoke to young people from Laois who have emigrated as part of our series on their stories and reasons for leaving. 

Sean Ross Lennon (of Lennon’s pub, Durrow) was living in Portlaoise when he moved to Perth, Australia.

“It takes a lot of time to get a rental over there,” he said.

“It’s a serious struggle. Perth is the cheapest area in Australia to rent in, and it averages around €500 a week,” said Mr Lennon.

“Australia is going into a recession at the moment. My partner and I are thinking of either moving home to Ireland, or moving to Canada. If I was going to move over now, I’d want to be ready and prepared,” he said.

“I’d want a friend I could couch surf with in the worst case scenario, and plenty of money and a job ready to go. If you're not straight into a FIFO gig it's almost impossible to jump right into it.”

 'Fly in fly out' (FIFO) jobs are those where an employer will temporarily transport the employee to a location or site of work and then transport them back for a period of rest. These are common in Australia, and usually involve trade jobs in construction, mining, or on oil rigs.

Mr Lennon explained the current cost of living standard in Perth.

“Regular wages an hour are around $24 to $30 here, $30 would be pretty good to get,” he said.

“If you have any certification your pay will go up- if you worked for Pfizer, you'd be on around $55 an hour, or if you had a trade it could be around $30 an hour,” he explained.

“The average wage is $55k a year in Perth, and it’s much lower in other states in Australia.

“If you wanted to eventually buy a house out here, a regular 3 bed semi-detached house could be around $1 million to buy. A 4 bed semi-detached could be $1.3 or $1.4 million to buy. It's not the dream place to go to anymore as it sounds,” Mr Lennon explained.

Mr Lennon and his partner are living one hour outside of Perth, in an area considered rural.

“We’re living an hour outside of the city, think Portlaoise to Dublin. We're counted as a rural area, but it's still so expensive. If you live in the city you're paying at least €1000 a week for an apartment,” he said.

“Anyone considering moving here should stay out of cities, move an hour away outside of the cities for things to be affordable. I'd recommend starting in Perth, but go for a side suburb like Mandera,” he explained.

“I do miss home. The main thing I miss about Ireland is the people. I miss walking down the street to the shop and everyone stopping you to chat, I miss that sense of community. It doesn’t exist out here,” Mr Lennon said.

“Australia has never actually felt like home to me yet, it feels like I’m just on a long holiday away from Ireland. Yes, you’ll make friends out here, but it’s a country that’s very focused on career climbing, it can be very cut-throat. My real sense of home is wherever my family are,” he said.