A Dublin man who emigrated 50 years ago can’t afford to move back home.
John Buckley McQuaid is originally from Stillorgan and has lived in Denmark since 1973 after spending a year in London.
He told Dublin Live: “My home is where I am. I love Ireland, it's beautiful with great people, however, I don't think I could afford to move back. It’s become so extreme nowadays.
Read More: Dublin chipper says you can eat their food '5 times a week' and stay healthy
“I left in 1972. When we do certain things we’re not totally conscious of why we’re doing them. It’s not some great plan, you get that later. We’re all here to learn.
“I left because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do in Ireland. That was music. I lived in Stillorgan, there were no opportunities for me to thrive in Ireland.
“I was playing music with my brother and his Danish girlfriend and we went to London, we busked, played the clubs then she said there’s gigs in Denmark so we were off.
“Over the next five years, I worked during the day at various factories, playing in pubs and clubs at night. In 1979 I turned professional and joined the Danish Musicians Union.
“I wasn’t encouraged in Ireland. A lot of dreams died in the pubs in Dublin, it was like a swamp. The dreams went in and nothing came out. Dreams require action and discipline.”
Since 1979 John has worked as a musician and in addition to writing songs, lyrics and releasing records, he also writes fairy tales, paints, takes photographs, makes illustrations, videos and short films, and creates e-books containing music and videos.
He has travelled all over Europe playing pubs, music venues, schools, art museums, prisons and festivals.
But John never forgot his Irish roots, despite leaving the country five decades ago.
He said: “I studied architecture for four years before leaving Ireland. It was for the head, but music was for the heart. I’m living the dream I always have.
“I worked out how to do what I want to do. Then you meet people on your way, some people encourage you. Everyone is born creative and then it depends if we’re encouraged or not.
“My mother was a national school teacher and my father was a skilled worker. When I was a child I wasn't allowed to paint because my mother was jealous of anything that took away from her. So I taught myself to paint with words.
“When I started to write, the housekeeper was stealing my notebooks. She was illiterate but she knew my mother didn’t approve of my writing. It’s a part of the background that created me. It’s why I write the way I write.
“I found that you can tell a whole life in one song. I've written songs about the Magdalene Laundries. There’s people still alive who have lived in them. The last one closed in 1996. I want to see a separation between church and state.”
John has released four albums since his debut album “Recorded Pain” from 1979. In 2017, he published the remarkable ‘Valentine’s Days’, consisting of 29 songs.
Recently he has released an album of original songs about Ireland, “This Is Where I Keep My Dreams’”.
He said: “It's a thought-provoking album, critical of society – especially in ‘Girls Who Lived In Hell’, a song about the girls who became pregnant outside of matrimony.
“The girls were given numbers instead of names, branded as unworthy, and forced to work from dawn to dusk without pay. Their babies were taken from them without their consent and either sold to America or placed with good Catholic Irish families.
“Those of the girls who were sent there by the courts had the benefit of knowing a release date. Everyone else was at the laundry indefinitely.
“In November 2020, as a matter of some urgency, the Irish government sealed the archives of these institutions for the next 30 years, which now makes it more or less impossible for adopted children to find their biological parents and vice versa.
"The Irish Government is in the process of wiping out these people from history and consigning them to oblivion. The question is, whether compassion is possible, in a country where church and state are so inextricably linked.
“Politicians in Ireland are out of touch with the common people in Ireland and they’re in touch with serving themselves.
“Outside of the country you’re not allowed to vote in elections, you can’t vote when you live abroad. Other countries have made it that you can vote in general elections in their embassies."
Read More: Vogue Williams' mum reveals the one item of clothing she would never wear
Read More: Finglas woman raises funds for hospitals after fiance loses battle to cancer
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
