I’ve lived in Ireland, Hong Kong, Oxford, London, Berlin and now I’m back in Dublin. I left after my undergrad because I knew how exhausting it would be to live in Dublin and didn’t want to try at that stage.
All admiration for people who do, but I just felt so tired thinking about paying the rent and having a job here. So, I picked the first place that wasn’t Ireland that I could find.
Having lived abroad, I feel more happy to embrace and explore the aspects of my culture that resonate with me. I think people who have never left Ireland sometimes have an unfounded fear that it’s somehow parochial to do so. That, of course, is nonsense.
Receiving an IPUT writer’s residency was the prompt to move home. Really, anything that Colm Tóibín proposes, I’m most likely going to accept because he’s an incredible writer and I admire him greatly. In tandem with IPUT, he selected me and it was an easy decision to take it.
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I came with as few expectations as possible and it’s been really great. I think my main fear was that the international aspect of my interests would be harder to satisfy, but I’m finding that’s completely untrue.
For example, I’m still able to participate in the Italian scene here – their culture institute is just a short distance from my apartment. I think the variety in Dublin means you can really make your own experience of the city to a large extent, although unfortunately, you cannot set your own rent.
I can’t possibly say whether I’ll move abroad again. That’s just not how I think. I’m very responsive to whatever is available in the moment. It would probably come down to where I can get the best apartment for the most reasonable rent.
Politically, I worry about the increased repression of Palestine protests in Berlin. The police there already have my name. I got detained a couple of times when I was at protests there. So, I would be intensely aware, if I went back to Berlin, that I would have to be careful in what I said and what I did if I wanted to avoid getting deported.
Then you start thinking: where in Europe is fascism not encroaching? It becomes depressingly difficult to find a place.
The experience of learning German and Italian as an adult prompted me to reconnect with the Irish language. I still understood everything as soon as I went back to it, but it took a while to be able to produce it again. I think the courage to do that came from having made much more of a fool of myself in these other languages.
I hear suggestions that you will be judged by fluent Irish speakers if you make mistakes – that they don’t want you in their club. This is untrue, especially somewhere like Dublin. Most Irish speakers who live in Dublin are just delighted to be able to use the language they’re passionate about.
Irish language literature has contributed significantly to the country’s success in fiction writing. This goes over the heads of many British people. When they’re wondering why Ireland “punches above its weight”, they will fail to acknowledge that we have centuries of rich Irish-language literature.
One of the best things about Ireland is the healthy disrespect for authority. I think this is an excellent example of how, when examining even the basic words in Irish, you can teach anyone about the culture. You don’t say “well done” in Irish. Instead, you say “maith thú”, which means “good on you”. It is a lot more equal.
There’s not the same assumption that I’m in a position to assess your ability. I think that really carries into how we relate to each other. That’s not to say we don’t have any problems with our system, but there’s not the same level of automatic deference you get in more colonial countries.
The love of words and storytelling is another great thing about Ireland. It sounds sentimental, but it’s true. Irish people read so much and that’s something I took for granted until I left. For example, in the UK, when I described how I used to go to plays with my dad, English people would regard this as a massive class flex.
My dad is from Leitrim. He’s a computer programmer. He’s not a cultural commentator in the top tier. It’s just normal to go to a play in Dublin in a way it isn’t in London to the same extent.
The love of words and stories is something we keep passing down and I hope that continues.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly. This interview, part of a series, has been edited for length and clarity. Naoise Dolan is the author of Exciting Times and The Happy Couple.
