Sean Mac Seoin graduated from University College Dublin in 1984 with a degree in chemical engineering. As a young engineer he spent a number of years living and working abroad before eventually returning to Ireland.

"I lived in the States for a year, for example, working in the multinational company General Electric. I then moved to Dublin where I found employment with Intel in Ireland and I spent a lot of time travelling back and forth to their American operations," he says.

After a number of years in Dublin, he found that his chemical engineering skills could be put to better use outside the capital. "There wasn't a lot of chemical plants in Dublin in the early 1990s and to find a concentration of these companies, the only real centre was Cork," he says.

"It provided better career opportunities and the possibility to move more easily between companies than Dublin," adds the project manager with Glaxo SmithKline Beecham. In 1994, motivated by career prospects, the Dubliner made the move to Cork where he has been based since.

After falling in love with a local girl, marriage and three children later it seems that he is committed to staying in the south of the country, a decision which causes him no regrets or second thoughts.

"I enjoy living here. It is much smaller than Dublin, salaries are good, commuting is not a problem and there is better value for your money when you buy property," he adds.

Sean Mac Seoin and family moved from Cork city to the picturesque village of Innishannon, 12 miles from the city centre. "This is an ideal area for a family and an option that you wouldn't have in Dublin."

While he says the social scene is good, he believes people from outside the county have to make some effort to integrate themselves into the community if they want to feel the full benefits of living there. "I fell in with a hill-walking group and made a lot of friends. I also met my wife here," he explains.

"I know of some people who came to Cork to work but even after a couple of years they had not established a circle of friends here. After commuting back to Dublin or Limerick every weekend to their old friends they just got frustrated and left."