Mary O'Brien - West Cork People

Building a barn house in West Cork

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

If you’ve been following Brian Colgan and Jordan Veloso’s house-building journey (@ouririshbarn) on Instagram, you’ll know that the charismatic couple have just broken ground on their dream home in West Cork. After making the move from London, the couple are managing the self-build themselves through direct labour – a 2,000-square-foot […]

New beginnings

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

While relocating her business to the busy town of Kinsale feels like a step in the right direction for Emily Connell and her popular interiors and lifestyle store, Chalk & Easel, it also marks a bittersweet chapter in this local success story writes Mary O’Brien. For the past ten years […]

Seizing the day

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

An impending hip replacement might cause most people to slow down a bit in life, but for Kevin Ogden, 68, it was the impetus to do the exact opposite writes Mary O’Brien. The retired American airline captain is just back from a three-month solo bike trip that took him across […]

Making a difference

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

After spending four decades helping countries and organisations to rebuild after communism, Steven Kelly and Mari Novak finally hung their hats in West Cork. Partners in life and business, the couple, who celebrate 42 years of marriage this year, moved to West Cork from Prague in 2012 with the intention […]

Getting to the heart of life

Mary O'Brien September, 2026

After going into heart failure at the age of 40, Martina Conroy was told she had 18 months to live unless she underwent surgery. In that moment her life changed forever. “You learn what fear really feels like and you stop taking life for granted,” she tells Mary O’Brien. Handed […]

The bard of Butlerstown

Mary O'Brien July, 2026

While it’s many moons since the clanging of the hammer on the anvil last rang out around the village of Butlerstown, it’s a sound that Michael O’Brien, 81, tells Mary O’Brien, he still hears as clearly as if it were yesterday. The small coastal village between Courtmacsherry and Barryroe once […]

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