American family with Laois roots emigrates to new life in Ireland

An American family with a strong Laois connection has flipped the emigrant’s tale to move across the sea to Ireland.

Brian Kelly is the son of Tom Kelly who came from long standing business families in Portlaoise. Tom moved to the states in the 1960s aged in his 20s to work for General Electric, got married there and settled down to have a family. 

In 2024 his son Brian and his wife Olivia and their three children upped sticks, going from sunny Santa Monica beach life in Los Angeles, California to live in Ireland.

Brian spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live firstly about his Laois history.

“Dad was born in Laois and grew up there. His parents had a shop in Market Square. His mom Ethna ran the shop with his dad TC Kelly. His dad also did loudspeakers and other electronics repairs in the town. He actually put up loudspeakers all around Ireland for events, races things like that.

Tom Kelly on his graduation day at UCD.

“My dad was born in 1945 so his childhood memories are from the 50’s, in the 60’s he went to boarding school in Carlow, to Knockbeg. He went to UCD from there.

“He finished UCD in ‘68 and went straight to America. No one in his family had ever gone to university, but all four of their kids actually did which is kind of cool, he was the first.

“He was the only one to leave and go to the states though his siblings visited. He wasn’t trying to escape anything here, I think it was just the thrill of a big expansive country like the US. He loved being in Dublin in the ‘60s, he felt it was a great time to be there, probably being a student and UCD was still in the city centre, It hadn’t moved to Belfield yet.

“My grandparents sold and closed their shop in Portlaoise in the ‘70s and moved to Dun Laoghaire and ran a post office for a little while. Then they retired to Tallaght.

“My grandmother’s brother had been running a gas station in Portlaoise. Her grandfather Paul Rice had owned this station for many years and her brother Peter took it over followed by his brother Ronnie, it was multi generational,” he explained.

Ronnie's son Ronan Rice still lives in Portlaoise.  The Kelly's shop is now Humes auctioneers in Market Square, while the filling station is Talbot’s hair salon. The original petrol pumps were only removed in the past decade.

“One of my aunts ran a little sweet shop next to it for a while,” Brian added.

TC Kelly's shopfront in the 1950s in Market Square, Portlaoise.

“They loved Portlaoise. My dad regaled me with stories of trips out to the Rock of Dunamase when they were kids, bombing it out on bikes.

“I went there too when I was a kid. We used to come over every year or two, and bounce around with family. His siblings moved, one lives in Birr where he ran a shop, another was a schoolteacher in Meath, another moved near Dundalk."

Brian had stepped down as president of a US veterinary company in 2023, opening options for a change of life.

The family arrived to Ireland in 2024 and bought a house in Glenageary, Dublin. Their three children enrolled in an international school because all the local schools were full. Brian now serves on the board of five companies while Olivia is job searching in the field of medical consultancy.

“We came over with an indefinite plan. I and our three kids have Irish citizenship and my wife can stay and become a citizen after three years. So we can stay indefinitely. Two of our three kids are in secondary school now, so it’s getting more serious thinking about university.

“We bought a house here and sold everything we got in the US, so we burned the ships," he said.

Brian said it’s going well.

“We love it, we are super happy we did it. When I came here before it was always a holiday, but we would see facets that you just don’t see when you’re a visitor. That’s delightful, even when it’s frustrating and challenging, if I zoom out it’s good. I just know people in the county much better now, from a first hand view. 

“The quality of life here, especially for kids, even in Dublin is so much better, than what we had in Los Angeles. We miss a bit of the sunshine but it’s an awesome place to be.

“There’s great things about Santa Monica, but I think for a kid, being able to take public transport around, the safety, it’s so much quieter, calmer here. And yet you have such great diversity, something maybe was a good bit different when I was a kid coming over here. Now the diversity is great, and yet it still feels like Ireland.

“I feel like Ireland is a great place to be. I’ll have a home here probably forever, even if I move, it might always feel temporary," he said.

The American political crisis influenced their decision.

Brian and Olivia Kelly with their children Finbarr, Sunday and Adelaide in Ireland.

“Thinking about even the presidential election here, the Jim Gavin thing to me was kind of wonderful, in the sense that a €3,000 issue would knock a candidate out, it put in super stark relief, the US and the state of things over there. 

“I thought it was a wonderful testament and validation of the state of things here. 

“It’s very interesting for us to read about the US from afar. To read about people we know from this vantage point. On one hand it feels bad because we can’t do anything, on the other it feels great because we feel a bit insulated from it all," Brian Kelly said.

He enjoys the local feel of Ireland, and its proximity to other European countries.

“The whole of Ireland is like half the size of LA, I appreciate the island mentality.

“My daughter is in London on a school trip, she played in a soccer trip in Budapest. The opportunities here are so much greater. For us its completely mindbending every time we visit another country. For the kids its awesome to get to experience it,” he said.

Read also: PICTURES: Gorgeous historic Laois farmhouse hits the market

There aren’t many negatives, but one is obvious.

“You’d have to say the weather. For me the darkness in the winter is hard.

"As a visitor, everyone experiences the lovely casualness, no worries mentality. I think that is true but on the flip side when you really need the electrician to come on Tuesday and he doesn’t, that’s really frustrating, he’ll come some time that month. It’s very counter to the American ethos of capitalism, the focus on how to make more money. Over time we have acclimated to a more softer approach to scheduling,” Brian said.

Back in Arizona, his father is well and happy Brian reports.

“My dad is totally delighted a year later that we’re still here experiencing the Ireland 60 years on from when he left,” Brian Kelly said.