‘I was asked if I was a terrorist every day': The Mayo woman helping expats make a soft landing in the UK
Her father, George, took early retirement following a 40-year career with the ESB and, at her mother's urging, moved the family from Ballina to England.
Maguire went from attending the 'fairly strict but fairly simple' Convent of Mercy in Ballina to being 'thrust into a comprehensive, 1,200-student school' in West Yorkshire. With a 'weird name and a strange accent' combined with 'all the Irish cultural, political stuff going on behind the scenes', Maguire says, 'I was asked if I was a terrorist every day, asked if we were in the IRA. All of that type of stuff.'
The youngest of eight children, Maguire says she felt very separated from the '2.1-child families' typical of the time. Having eight children was 'unheard of' in England. 'It was a lot. I didn't realise how different I was. Even in six years of school, I never really felt like I belonged there.'
READ MORE
England didn't start to feel like home until she moved to Nottingham in 1994 to become a nurse. By that time, 'things had changed' with the emergence of popular Irish bands in the UK such as the Cranberries, U2 and Aslan making it 'trendy to be Irish'.
With the peace process in Northern Ireland under way and the Republic of Ireland team at the 1994 World Cup led by well-known names from the newly formed Premier League, Maguire says people began to see the Irish 'less as something to worry about, and just as part of the landscape'.
In her early career, Maguire retained her connection to Ireland. After her father's death, her mother returned to her native Roscommon, and Maguire spent most of her holidays in Ireland where she felt a sense of 'true belonging'.
'There is always that sadness with the Irish abroad. You always think, 'I'll go back. One day, I'll go back.' And then, the more and more entrenched you become in your life here in the UK with marriage, jobs or kids, that dream just gets further and further away.
'Eventually you realise that you cannot just think about yourself, and then it just becomes the impossible dream.'
She met her future husband and business partner, James Maguire, while working as a nurse in Nottingham, and they moved to Manchester in 2000 following the birth of their first child.
In 2010, they jointly founded Maguire Family Law, with Eimear looking to fulfil a lifelong dream of training as a lawyer. Initially funded by a loan against the family home, the firm now has four offices and 17 employees. As the firm took off, Maguire never found the time to train in law, instead taking up the role of head of finance and operations.
The business is built around practising family law and its founders had their own intimate experience with the system.
'I was married to James and we set the practice up together, and then our marriage failed. So we got divorced but we continued to work together and to keep the business going. We are still working together, we are still the best of friends.'
Their own experience with divorce, Maguire says, has allowed them to help other families navigate the uncertainty.
'A lot of people call me saying, 'Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to get divorced, and I would really like it to go down like your divorce did. I would like to remain friends. How do you do that?'
'So, in a way, we are the poster people for divorce,' she laughs.
Growing the business in the north of England, Maguire got involved with the Women of Irish Heritage network, recently taking the position as the inaugural chairwoman of the not-for-profit initiative.
She wants to make sure there is a soft landing for Irish women who make the 'brave decision' to move to the UK. 'The Irish, we are known the world over for our warmth,' she said, noting that the same warmth and welcoming culture isn't replicated as much in England.
She says that Irish people who make the move often note the difference between the two cultures. 'I think British people are quite formal, they're quite reserved. They don't really speak their minds all that much.
'I know people have certainly found me to be a bit direct, but I just think I'm quite open in a way they are not used to.'
Even now, after 35 years living in England, Maguire has never applied for British citizenship. 'I felt it a betrayal of my heritage for most of the time I've been here,' she says, noting that feeling was a result of the anti-Irish sentiment she has experienced at times in the UK.
'The lack of acceptance of us here drives [people] more towards rejecting any Britishness and more embracing your own heritage,' she says.
In recent years, however, she feels she is entering her 'belonging era' and points to new laws which will simplify the process for Irish people living in the UK to apply for citizenship. 'I may get my dual nationality after all,' she laughs.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Examiner
19 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Bernard O'Shea: Five things I've learned to pretend about in my 40s
1. I pretend I know how to fix things around the house In your 40s, you're expected to have this mystical ability to fix things. Dripping tap? No problem. Wobbly table? I'll just wedge something under it and call it 'stabilising'. Truth is, I have a toolbox that exists purely to intimidate daddy long leg spiders who I'm fairly sure have opened a gym under the stairs. Culturally, Irish dads are supposed to be part-man, part-shed. But I missed that apprenticeship. We all had fathers who could take apart a lawnmower blindfolded using only two spoons and some spit. I once tried to change a light fitting and we ended up in darkness for a few hours. I also once put up a shelf in the bathroom — of which I was massively proud — but my wife keep telling me anyone within earshot: 'He actually said it will be fine — just don't put anything on it!' A recent study (done by someone handier than me) says that self-perceived competence in DIY peaks at age 38 and then plummets sharply — probably around the time you realise there's a very fine line between 'tightening' and 'stripping the screw entirely'. 2. I pretend I still know what music is cool Spotify recently informed me I had streamed Sigur Ros 483 times in one month. That wasn't even a sad month. That was just... a Tuesday. There comes a point in your 40s where all new music sounds like someone trying to sell you protein bars while shouting over a tumble dryer. You nod along when someone mentions Doja Cat, but deep down you're thinking 'Wasn't she in The Animals of Farthing Wood?' In my 20s, I prided myself on my music taste. I had opinions about B-sides. Now I just want something I can hum while I unload the dishwasher. Historically, every generation reaches a musical cutoff. For me, it's somewhere between Arctic Monkeys and whatever the hell hyperpop is. Psychologists refer to this as 'reminiscence bump' — we emotionally bond most with the music from our teens and early 20s. Which is why I nearly wept the last time Teenage Dirtbag came on in a petrol station. 3. I pretend my back is fine There's a specific moment in a man's life — usually just after he's bent down to tie his shoe or retrieve a rogue Lego — when his entire body goes 'No'. I threw my back out recently reaching for a grape. Not a box of grapes. One. Single. Grape. I made a noise like a fax machine being punched (I'm complete aware that anyone under the age of 35 won't know what a 'fax' is) But when asked 'Are you okay?' the only acceptable answer (as a man in his 40s) is: 'Ah yeah, just a bit stiff. Grand though.' Bernard O'Shea: "Culturally, Irish dads are supposed to be part-man, part-shed. But I missed that apprenticeship. We all had fathers who could take apart a lawnmower blindfolded using only two spoons and some spit. I once tried to change a light fitting and we ended up in darkness for a few hours." We lie through gritted teeth while walking like John Wayne in wet corduroy. Historically, men haven't been great at acknowledging pain. Our ancestors fought wolves and famine. I got winded bringing the shopping in. Medically, back pain becomes increasingly common after 40 due to something called 'disc degeneration' — which sounds like a bad DJ name but is actually just ageing bones throwing in the towel. To overcome the pain I just say to myself. 'I'm not old. I'm just… compression sensitive.' 4. I pretend I know what my kids are talking about Modern parenting is like being dropped into a video game you didn't know you downloaded. There are words, abbreviations, trends — and somehow, I'm always the villain. I try to stay up to speed. I read the odd TikTok trend breakdown. I ask careful questions like 'Is Riz good or bad?' But mostly I just smile, nod, and hope someone doesn't point and roar 'He hasn't a clue!' Historically, parents have always been uncool. It's practically our job. But in this age of memes and livestreams, the speed at which you become irrelevant is faster than a teenager slamming a door. According to one study, kids think their parents are officially 'cringe' from age 12 onward. Which is deeply unfair, because that's exactly when I got good at wordplay. 5. I pretend I'm in control of money On the outside, I look composed. Inside, I'm three receipts away from yelling 'WHY DID I SPEND €6 ON KOMBUCHA?' Knowing full well that it isn't going to solve my 'bloating'. (It's possible my large stomach is caused by repeated ingestion of salted caramel ice-cream. However without more scientific study this cannot be 100% proven.) In your 40s, people assume you have a grip on money. You nod at mortgage rates, you say things like 'we'll revisit that in Q3', and you pretend your pension is something other than a shoebox with old Bus Éireann vouchers. Financial adulthood is just constant juggling. Kids, bills, petrol, insurance. Your life essentially becomes a series of direct debits. You're always 'just after paying something off'. As a self-employed person for most of my life I'm still trying to get my head around invoicing. Culturally, Irish people were never raised to talk about money. We were raised to say things like 'Ah, sure we'll make do' while sweating through a budget spreadsheet written on the pack of a till receipt. According to behavioural economists, money shame is real — especially in midlife when you're expected to have it all sorted. But guess what? No one really does. Even your man with the campervan and the laser-cut grass. He's stressed too.

The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
Clean sweep as Ireland celebrate T20 International series success
THE IRELAND WOMEN'S cricket team completed a clean sweep in their T20I series against Zimbabwe with another dominant performance in Dublin. Ireland clinched the series last night, and made it 3-0 today at Pembroke Cricket Club. Advertisement The match began with Ireland winning the toss and choosing to bat first with a new opening pair out in the middle, Amy Hunter and Rebecca Stokell. The openers put on 96 for the first wicket as both batters proved very effective in the powerplay. Ireland posted 179-4 with Hunter (59) and Stokell (41) the main aggressors, while Orla Prendergast in particular did some late damage thanks to her 24* off 9 balls batting at number six in a reconfigured batting line up. Amy Hunter, who was dropped twice during her innings, also managed to pass 2,000 runs across formats for her country. In response, Zimbabwe managed just 129-7 from their 20 overs, giving Ireland a 50-run victory and a series clean sweep. Ava Canning (2-18) and Sophie MacMahon (2-21) were the pick of the Irish bowlers, while two run outs also proved crucial in maintaining pressure with the ball. Hunter received the Player of the Match award for her half century while captain Gaby Lewis claimed the Player of the Series accolade for her 154 runs at a strike rate of 155.56 across just the two innings having not batted in the third T20I.


Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Shels shocked as Qarabag show gulf in class in Champions League second round qualifier
Uefa Champions League second round, first leg SHELBOURNE 0 QARABAG 3 (Leandro Andrade 12, Oleksiy Kashchuk 80, Nariman Akhundzade 85) Trust someone with a Shamrock Rovers link to kick-start the monsoon dumped on Shelbourne's Champions League parade. Pico Lopes is one of the few regular internationals in the League of Ireland and his Cape Verde teammate Leandro Andrade popped up to smother a promising start for Shels to this second-round tie. That was admirable given the magnitude of the step-up in class from their first-round victory. Losing to Linfield would have triggered a wider debate on comparisons between the two leagues on the island of Ireland but there's no debate as to how far ahead the Azeris are. Specifically, that refers to Qarabag. They've claimed the title in all bar one of the last 11 seasons, their monopoly derived from the investment that puts a value on the current squad of €25m. Conservative estimates would quantify the Shels equivalent at 90% less. While the gulf in class was evident in dispatches, the Reds did occasionally sculpt moments that could have brought with them something to the second leg in Baku. That they squandered those moments, coupled with switching off to gift substitute Oleksiy Kashchuk and Nariman Akhundzade late goals, that all but confirms Shels have used up one of their three lifelines to reach group stage participation beginning in October. Nariman Akhundzade of Qarabag scores his side's third goal. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile. Within the space of five minutes Shels descended from being in the tie to effectively being eliminated – a lesson as to the calibre of opponent in Uefa's supreme competition. All the warnings of lapses being punishable issued by manager Joey O'Brien, only a month into the job since his boss Damien Duff abruptly quit on a Sunday morning, weren't heeded by his Shels players. Ominously for the Irish title holders, Qarabag, on their home patch, in peak summer temperatures and a week further into their pre-season will pose a deadlier threat next Wednesday. Shels knew from their triumph in Belfast last week that three more ties were ahead of them on this return to the European stage following an 18-year absence. The second of those will be in the Europa League in a fortnight, the first leg away to the loser of another Champions League clash between Ludogorets (Bulgaria) or Rijeka (Croatia), who played out a scoreless draw. Flat feelings across Tolka Park were a contrast to the opening 10 minutes when O'Brien's call to begin briskly had the desired effect. From their first corner on seven minutes, Harry Wood's delivery was met by Tyreke Wilson's flying header which struck the arm of Behlul Mustafazade. Shels didn't have time to appeal before Seán Gannon's sliced effort rebounded off the post. A VAR check didn't award the penalty. Five minutes later and the Azeri kingpins grabbed their lead from a clinical counterattack. They were appealing for a foul by Kameron Ledwidge when Leandro Andrade drove at the defence from the right, switched play to the left, where Abdellah Zoubir and Tural Bayramo combined to square for the Cape Verde attacker to sweep home from close range. Akhundzade grazed the crossbar with a volley from a well-worked corner as Shels were stretched and all the hosts could conjure approaching the break was a header from captain Paddy Barrett which Fabijan Buntić almost contrived to fumble into the path of Mipo Odubeko. The striker was nowhere near as involved in this tie but his wingers both had chances to level early in the second half. Ali Coote's deflected volley looped over the crossbar before Harry Wood uncharacteristically scuffed his chance at the back post when found by Kerr McInroy. Barrett's cross also glanced off the crossbar as the sold-out crowd craved an equaliser but they were silenced by the late brace. When Akhundzade's shot clipped the post with 10 minutes left, Ukrainian Kashchuk followed in to tap into the empty net. Five minutes later and stand-in goalkeeper Lorcan Healy was left stranded by a header from Ledwidge that enabled Akhundzade to walk the ball over the goal-line while the row behind him ensued. SHELBOURNE: L Healy; E Caffrey (J O'Sullivan 66), S Gannon (M Coyle 46), P Barrett, K Ledwidge, T Wilson (J Norris 18); K McInroy, JJ Lunney; A Coote (J Martin 66), M Odubeko (S Boyd 77), H Wood. QARABAG: F Buntic; D Bolt (A Hüseynov 77), B Mustafazade, M Silva, T Bayramov; P Bicalho, Kady, E Addai; L Andrade (O Kashchuk 77), N Akhundzade (M Qurbanlı 88), A Zoubir (E Cafarguliyev 88). Referee: Ante Čulina (CRO).