A new series of Moving West on TG4 follows the lives of individuals and families who have moved or are in the process of moving to a new home along the Atlantic coast.
Presented by Mary Kennedy, over the course of six half hour episodes, the series sets out to help viewers discover a genuine message, that life, and in particular your career will not take a step back if you are considering a move West. In a relaxed, entertaining and informal fashion, each episode explores the many opportunities that the region has to offer.
In the first episode next week, viewers meet Sinead O’Kelly originally from Co. Mayo and her husband Bernhard Bauer from Austria, Sinead left home at 17, first to attend college in Cork and then to work as a holiday rep in Bulgaria, Italy and Austria where she settled for nine years and met Bernhard.
In 2016, they decided that we would both like to live in Ireland and run a little farm. After looking at places in Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo they spotted Lough Atorick North Farm on a random website. They say the move was easy enough. They both work in tech, run the farm and have two AirBnBs in South Galway.
Darren Burke wanted to kick-off a career in medical devices. Galway, being a global hub, was an obvious choice. The move itself was relatively painless. It also helped that you could get a lot more bang for your buck on the rental market in Galway relative to Dublin. Since then, Darren has made many friends, joined a football team, met his now wife and have founded a start-up company with two colleagues at the Gteic Hub in An Spidéal. The couple live in Maigh Cuilinní and are expecting their first child.
In the first few weeks of Covid, Carol Tallon from Blessington bought an old homestead in Connemara through an online property auction. Due to Covid restrictions, she could not see it in advance or travel to inspect it until after the conveyancing closed.
Carol runs a property communications company out of the Gteic hub in An Cheathrú Rua. She is learning Irish and has taken on gaeilgeoir Bríd Molloy to ensure they can offer all existing communications services through Irish.
Sinead Ní Fhatharta is Head of Enterprise and Employment at Údarás na Gaeltachta in Na Forbacha. Her primary role is to work with her team to encourage and support entrepreneurs (movers and locals ) to develop their concepts, to establish their business and scale it through both financial and non-financial aid along with a property offering within the Gaeltacht areas.
She talks about the fact that movers west are welcome.
Moving West is produced by Dundara Television & Media in association with The Western Development Commission.
