The Loughlin story
In 1989, I was working in Galway, where, as the old saying goes, it was either raining or about to rain. While I was fortunate to work for an American company, Digital Equipment Corporation, Ireland was, in those days, a place of limited economic prospects. Many of my fellow DCU engineering graduates were already working abroad. I was contemplating my own future on yet another grey Galway day when a letter arrived from US immigration: a 'use it or lose it' notice regarding my Donnelly Visa.
I didn't think twice. Opportunities like that were not common. My wife of 36 years, Maria, still loves to remind me of my “romantic” proposal. I said, "I'm going to America. Do you want to come?" Sounds very Irish.
Fortunately for me, she said yes. We were married three months later and boarded a flight across the Atlantic with a couple of suitcases and a plan to stay in the United States "for two years."
Like so many Irish emigrants before us, those two years turned into many more. Life happened fast. A few years in, we bought a house. I called my parents to tell them our exciting news and my mother cried on the phone. She knew the pattern. Careers took off, a mortgage was signed, and before we knew it, we were raising kids with Boston accents and a muddled sense of Irish identity. We never looked back, though over the years, short and wonderful visits back to Ireland were the anchor of our extended family life. Grandparents and the ”cool” older Irish cousins were always a big hit with our kids. As were Irish breakfast, Cadbury chocolate and Irish Easter eggs.
More recently, Maria and I took the plunge into early retirement. That freedom allowed us to change our relationship with home. Today, we spend about a quarter of our year in Ireland, no longer rushing through brief family visits, but really living there again. We’ve spent time with family, reconnecting with lifelong friends and re-exploring Ireland, from the beautiful coastlines of Cork and Kerry all the way to the windswept tip of Malin Head. On one visit, we rented an apartment on Leeson Street from where we regularly strolled to Stephen’s Green, Grafton Street and many other Dublin landmarks. We even became regulars at the local One Kinda Folk coffee shop.
Standing at Malin Head on a recent visit, picturing the communications mast my dad once maintained, I was struck by how much our connection to home has evolved. In his day, he was maintaining the physical infrastructure that kept Ireland connected to the world. Even in 1990, the connection home was sporadic. Flights and even calls were expensive. Maria and I had to hunt for banks on our honeymoon in Florida to buy rolls of quarters for a weekly call home from a public pay phone. Looking out across the Atlantic from that same spot decades later, I realized that live video and WhatsApp have revolutionized transatlantic communications. Yet modern Ireland still needs other bridges to America.
During these extended stays, I stumbled onto something remarkable: a vibrant, ambitious technology and startup ecosystem. In 1990, Ireland’s primary export was its young talent. Today, the country is an engine of global innovation. I found myself sitting in coffee shops in Dublin and Galway, talking with young founders who possessed world-class technical talent, boundless grit, and an eye on global expansion. I was instantly energized by their vision, but I also recognized a familiar challenge: bridging the gap between an Irish breakout idea and the massive US commercial market.
I realized I didn't just want to be a spectator in this new Ireland, I wanted to help. Two years ago, I partnered with the Digital Irish organization to found a venture capital fund, Digital Irish Ventures, dedicated to backing early-stage Irish startups and supporting their expansion into North America. To date, we have invested in seven extraordinary Irish companies, and our ambitions for our second fund are even bigger.
Moving to America in 1989 changed my life, but coming home to spend time with family and friends, and invest in the future of Ireland has been one of the most rewarding chapters yet. I love the deep connection to my heritage, the wonderful excuse to spend months at “home", and, above all, playing a part in the modern, progressive, and multicultural nation Ireland has become.