{"id":490219,"date":"2026-06-09T07:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490219\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T07:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T07:17:10","slug":"i-fully-moved-here-i-mean-i-bought-the-piano-i-brought-my-cats-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490219\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I fully moved here. I mean, I bought the piano. I brought my cats\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI always say that I feel like I have not emigrated to Ireland. I feel like I\u2019m coming home,\u201d says Emily O\u2019Sullivan (52), who moved from her native Canada<\/a> to Dublin<\/a> in 2025. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s father is Irish and throughout her childhood her family would return to Ireland to spend Christmas and summer here. Her grandparents lived in D\u00fan Laoghaire<\/a>, where they had moved from Kiltoom, Co Roscommon. She speaks fondly about summers spent scraping barnacles off D\u00fan Laoghaire pier and eating copious amounts of Teddy\u2019s ice cream.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m just trying to convey that Ireland has a lot of really deep meaning for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Though she was born and raised in Ontario, O\u2019Sullivan says that her father never lost his taste for Irish produce, and she grew up drinking Barry\u2019s tea and eating Irish rashers instead of American-style bacon. A penny whistle was also often brought out and played by her father during family gatherings. <\/p>\n

Her father, a doctor who had studied at the Royal College of Surgeons, moved to Canada to do an internship and then met and fell in love with O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s mother. <\/p>\n

After leaving school, O\u2019Sullivan decided to train to be nurse. Initially she planned to complete her training in Canada but she then met some recruiters for nursing college in Australia on her campus and decided to finish up her degree there. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was very young, and it sounded like lots of fun,\u201d she says. While she enjoyed her time in Australia, she returned to Canada after completing her studies. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan ended up specialising as a recovery room and cardiothoracic nurse (\u201chearts and lungs\u201d, she explains). After qualifying she moved to London and worked at a hospital for a few years. While there, she had what she now refers to as a \u201clight bulb moment\u201d about the importance of technology in healthcare. Back in Toronto, she decided to go back to university to learn more about IT while she was working as a nurse at a teaching hospital. Eventually, she quit nursing to work in healthcare technology. <\/p>\n

The decision to move to Ireland came about as she was offered a job to help with the Government\u2019s national electronic health record implementation project. <\/p>\n

\"EmilyEmily O\u2019Sullivan: \u2018It\u2019s amazing that I\u2019ve got the Irish passport, that makes it a lot easier.\u2019 Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest there\u2019s nowhere else I would have moved at this stage in my game. I have done a lot of travelling over my life and over my career.\u201d <\/p>\n

While the move brought quite a few logistical hurdles, especially as she was moving with her cats, O\u2019Sullivan says that she is treasuring the opportunity to spend more time with her family. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got cousins and cousins and cousins all over the place. So it\u2019s really nice to be able to see them more regularly.\u201d <\/p>\n

Something that surprised O\u2019Sullivan as she was preparing to move was the cost of housing, both renting and buying, in Dublin, which she says is markedly more expensive than it is in Canada. Despite her initial shock she did manage to find suitable accommodation in an area she likes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really lucked out in terms of the place that I live. I live in a community that is full of kind people and neighbours. So I am delighted to say that I am friends with my neighbours now, which is really nice for brunches and hangouts and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EmilyEmily O\u2019Sullivan plans to spend her spare time exploring \u2018every inch of Ireland\u2019. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Another difference between Canada and Ireland that O\u2019Sullivan has observed is how people are encouraged to cycle here. While she has always cycled, O\u2019Sullivan got her bike through the Cycle To Work scheme, which offers people the chance to buy bikes tax free through their employers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the Bike to Work scheme in Canada. I know part of that is to help relieve traffic, but it is also getting people healthier.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bid to meet new people, O\u2019Sullivan decided to join a few crochet clubs in Dublin. She taught herself to crochet during the Covid-19 lockdowns and is an avid crafter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the art scene is more significant here, if I\u2019m being honest, especially for the size of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if any parts of her move have been challenging, she said that it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience and that she has settled right in. One thing she has missed since moving, coming from a musical family, is her piano. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, piano is not the most transportable instrument, but I have a piano on the way that I have ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018All these years in Dublin I have never had a driving licence and I never will\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Music remains a large part of her life as she attends weekly traditional music performances. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan says she is committed to living in Ireland long-term. <\/p>\n

\u201cI fully moved here. It\u2019s amazing that I\u2019ve got the Irish passport, that makes it a lot easier. I mean, I bought the piano. I brought my cats.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now she plans to spend her spare time exploring \u201cevery inch of Ireland\u201d and has a long list of locations to tick off. <\/p>\n

We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com<\/a> or send us two lines about yourself using the form below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI always say that I feel like I have not emigrated to Ireland. I feel like I\u2019m coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,289,4741,615,16089,61,60,37614],"class_list":["post-490219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-dublin","tag-dun-laoghaire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-new-to-the-parish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}