'My heart does ache a bit': Cork's PJ Coogan preparing for a different kind of Christmas this year

We got word in August.

A video call with her Mum while we were on holidays.

I had gone for a swim in the sea and when I came back Queen Bee told me “she won’t be home for Christmas and they’ll be doing a second year once the visas get sorted.”

I’ll be honest, I was expecting the second year.

When we put her on the plane in Dublin on January 10, I figured that making a huge move like going off to work in Australia isn’t something you get out of your system in a mere 12 months.

There’s a dream to be lived, and you can’t rush those things.

Jemma, our daughter, twin sister to James, is 27.

She’s a bundle of fun and divilment – fearless and forever up for a challenge.

Animals have always been her first love and it was written in the stars that one day she’d work with them.

She’s now a skilled veterinary nurse.

She’s the best of both of us – our greatest achievement.

She’s not just my daughter, she’s one of my best pals.

Jemma and her boyfriend, Ian, have been together for almost a decade.

First they were friends in a peer group, and then she went to his grads and as they say the rest is history.

He’s been like one of the family for years now.

His parents are lovely, sound people too.

The idea of a year in Australia first came up around the end of 2022.

At first they were “talking and thinking about it and doing a bit of research”, but they both had good jobs with good employers and were under no pressure whatsoever to leave Ireland.

If they went, it would be because they wanted to.

The last time I looked there are nearly 30,000 young Irish people on “417” visas in Australia.

The visa allows for a year working Down Under, but you can’t spend more than six months in any one job.

You can qualify for a second year but, to do so, you must work for 90 days in specific jobs as required by the Australian government.

Jemma and Ian eventually decided to give it a go, and following a few weeks backpacking their way around Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, they arrived in Melbourne in February, starting work within a couple of weeks.

They found a fantastic little apartment by the seafront in St Kilda, for about half the price they’d pay here, and got on with their adventure.

There’s plenty of work in her chosen field, and work-life balance is all important to the Australians – especially among young people.

Many work a four-day week, and a lot of their time off is spent making use of the fabulous climate – everyone is active and sporty.

Jemma is a keen hockey player and quickly found a club.

Her latest discovery is HyRox – something I would get tired even trying to describe.

She loves rugby and Formula One – she’ll get them both in Australia.

The cost of living is high, admittedly, but that’s no different to home.

Initially, Jemma had every intention of coming home for Christmas.

There was talk of flying into Cork around December 20 and staying until the early days of the New Year.

We chatted about our annual “Rubbish Run” – Dad and daughter dashing around the shops, buying biscuits, chocolate and half a tonne of other “rubbish”, before hitting the pub (Barrys or the South County) for Christmas drinks.

Christmas Eve lunch in town and Christmas morning opening presents at home, then over to my sister’s place for drinks.

St Stephen’s Day is the big get-together in our house and she’d be there with all the family.

We had it all planned in our heads, but now it’s not to be for this year.

Jemma said in an early message, “Dad, it’ll never be home, but I absolutely love Melbourne.”

As they do wherever they go, she and Ian have made friends in St Kilda.

A big, happy gang of them are now planning Christmas in the hot Aussie sunshine, around a swimming pool, with turkey on the barbecue.

I won’t lie, my heart does ache a bit to think that she won’t be here on Christmas morning, for the first time in her 27 years, to tear open presents with us and with her brother, to chow down on a big, dirty Christmas fry and argue over what music Alexa plays – my Christmas playlist or hers.

We’ll all do a video call – of course we will - but it won’t be the same.

As you might have gathered, we’re big “Christmas people” in Coogan Towers.

We put up the first tree a month before the big day.

Last year we eventually had four.

We all overindulge in mulled wine, gingerbread lattes and Chocolate Kimberley.

We do movies, Mrs Brown, mimosas and the Metropole for lunch on Christmas Eve.

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we “do lazy” like it was an Olympic sport and we are the champions.

We’ll do all those things as usual this year, ourselves and James, but there will be a big “Jemma-shaped” hole in everything.

It’s not going to be the same, but we’re also excited for her to be having her own, very different and very special celebrations in Melbourne.

She is making her memories, living her dreams and for that, we can only be happy.

It’s what you want for them, really, isn’t it?

We will see her in the spring when she comes home for a few weeks for holidays, and we can’t wait for that.

There is one thing, though.

We’ll have to mute the sound at the end of the Royle Family Christmas Special.

I’m not sure I can handle the theme music – Half the World Away.. that might just be too much for us.

Happy Christmas, Jem – we miss ya, kid.

This article appeared in this year's Holly Bough.

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