After completing a bilingual masters in EU law at The College of Europe in Bruges, Sean Mernagh returned to Dublin to complete his training as a solicitor at McCann Fitzgerald. However, after gaining experience in different specialities there his passion for specialising in European law remained unchanged, and the lure of career opportunities in Belgium drew him back.
In his particular area of practice his choices were limited due the specialist nature – ”either a number of the big law firms, or the European Commission”. It made sense to work in Brussels. “I wanted to go and do the hard cases and the more interesting ones, and maybe later down the road of come home having got all that great experience.”
Settling in was not a problem given that his postgraduate degree had been very geared towards working in the EU. “I already had a network of friends there from doing the masters so that made it a bit easier,” he recalls. His social circle now includes a multicultural mix of friends he has made through work and meeting other Irish expats. There is, of course, a GAA club, although he is no longer a member: “When I joined they focused more on Gaelic football and I would be more of a hurler.”
After 2½ years at a law firm in Brussels Mernagh got through the gruelling competition for civil service jobs and took a role as a case handler in the European Commission in January 2021.
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It can take several attempts to get through that process, and there are a multitude of training companies which have set up to help prepare people for the competitions. For those who are determined Mernagh advises taking time off work: “Anyone I’ve met that has successfully got through them, they’ve taken a couple of weeks and dedicated time to it, preparing for them as much as they can.”
However, he sees plenty of private sector openings for those that don’t want to go down the civil service route. “They are crying out for people… I don’t know if it’s on the radar of Irish people enough; the opportunities out here are only growing.”
Brexit is a big opportunity for Irish people who are interested in EU jobs, according to Mernagh. “Because we are the only native English speakers left in the EU that can only be an asset.”
After the late nights and long hours of working in a law firm, having more regular working hours has given him his evenings and weekends back, and now he has more time to appreciate the city and its position as a gateway to the rest of Europe.
“There’s a lot to do here. It’s a bit of a melting pot because there’s so many people of different nationalities living here. There’s a lot of different cultural things going on and if you want to try any type of food you can probably find a restaurant that has it.”
Unsurprisingly “prices for rent are much more reasonable than you’d find in Dublin. Some things are more expensive, but overall the cost of living is a bit lower.”
There are pros and cons to anywhere, of course. “The quality of the weather might be a little bit worse than Dublin in terms of rain,” he says, and there can be a lot of administrative red tape to get through at the start, but overall in his opinion “as capital cities go it’s probably one of the less stressful ones to live in”.
“Everything is very accessible by car so we can drive to Paris in 3½ hours; you can be in the Netherlands in an hour.” He also recently did a quick spin over to Germany for a ski trip.
Connectivity to Ireland was also a bonus while maintaining a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend. Now that she has joined him in Brussels they are making the most of the opportunities it provides for both their careers and accessibility to continental Europe, while enjoying the fact that they can stay connected with family and friends at home. “Maybe it would be nicer weather-wise to be in Australia,” he jokes, “but it’s very hard to come home from there.”
Deanna O’Connor