Local man emigrating in hope of better life

A 36 year old local man has this week spoken out about his decision to relocate himself and his family to Canada in the hope of a better life than what he describes as just an existence in the Ireland of today. Willie Currams, who is the chairman of the St Colmcille's Pipe Band, said the move brings mixed feelings. On the one hand the move away from his beloved home is devastating, while on the other it's an adventure and an opportunity. Willie, his partner Gillian and their 16 year old son Ethan live in Kilbeggan. Willie, a qualified electrician, has a job in Ireland, though not in his chosen field. For the past four years he has worked long hours selling medical devices for a healthcare company, trying to pay mortgages on two houses as a result of the property crash that left him unable to sell the couple's house in Birr after moving to Kilbeggan. "I work very long hours," Willie said this week. "I cover the whole country. Things get harder and harder. You're working twice as hard and the paycheck is getting smaller and smaller." Willie's partner Gillian works for Covidien in Tullamore, but Willie said concerns that one of them may be made redundant coupled with university fees for son Ethan in two year's time made them take stock. "We survive, but that's the problem; we just survive," he said of their life in Ireland where both he and Gillian work full time. "If she [Gillian] lost her job we'd go from being up to date with everything to a financial headache. "We're looking two years down the line," he continued. "We won't qualify for grants to send Ethan to college. This move is an opportunity for him and it's an opportunity for us." Willie, who is the son of Helen and Declan Currams from Tullamore, leaves Offaly next Wednesday, July 4, for Regina, Saskatchewan, to start work as an electrical engineer on July 9. In six to eight months Gillian and Ethan hope to follow him. "I'm absolutely devastated from a family perspective and even from a band perspective," Willie said this week. "What's being left behind is very sad. It's like a death at the minute. "On the other hand it's an adventure," he added. "It's a new start; it's exciting." Willie said he has a certain amount of anger, particularly directed at the easy availability of credit in the past. "I'm just an ordinary working guy that's having to leave my mother, father, two sisters and a group of friends," he said. "I've always worked towards having a nice house and a good quality of life with my family. I wasn't trying to be a property developer." However Willie added that he doesn't see things improving in Ireland for a long time, and so he's ready to give new pastures a go. "It's a huge gamble, but what can you do?" he said. Last weekend was bittersweet for Willie and St Colmcille's Pipe Band as the band that he helped to reform four years ago picked up two pieces of silverware at the Heart of Down Championships in Newcastle, but their winning performance was Willie's last one with the band. Last Saturday's performance with St Colmcille's Pipe Band was, he said "very difficult". While he hopes to play with the band in the future if holiday leave at his new job allows, nothing is certain and so last Saturday's performance had a finality about it. "It was a kind of swansong," he said. Band PRO Pat Nolan said that while efforts from many helped the band reform four years ago, no single contribution was greater than Willie's. "His loss will be incalculable on a number of fronts and there was a profound sense of sadness on Saturday among the band's members, who are hoping that the popular electrician's move doesn't turn out to be a longterm one," he said.