Joy for Tyrone folk down under as border restrictions ease

TODAY marks the first time in nearly two years that residents of Australia can travel out of the country after living under some of the toughest Covid-19 border measures in the world.

This is welcome news for Eamon Eastwood, originally from Cookstown, who will introduce his two-year-old daughter Everley to her Tyrone clan for the first time in March next year.

The new addition to the family was originally due to visit Ireland in March 2020 to be christened in her father’s hometown, but this was cancelled when Australia closed its borders.

Eamon, 45, said, “It has been very frustrating for us. My parents are getting older and my father’s not well. They’re living off the videos we’re sending them of Everley every day, but it will just be fantastic to get back and see them and show my Australian wife Diana more of Ireland.”

While he acknowledged Australia’s handling of the pandemic on the whole, he criticised the government’s slow vaccine rollout, which may have delayed borders reopening.

The business owner, who has lived down under for more than 20 years, is very much in touch with his county roots as chairman of the Tyrone Association in Sydney.

Asked about friends in the same boat as himself, Eamon said, “There are definitely a lot of people who are looking to visit home for the likes of Christmas and Easter holidays.”

He has has also boticed an increase in demand for home comforts through his business, Taste Ireland, which imports Irish food products into Australia.

“We’re expecting a bumper Christmas because although the borders measures will be lifted close to December, I don’t imagine most people will have booked for that soon, and Tyrone natives always want to get a taste of home at that time of year,” Eamon said.

Unfortunately for Tyrone fans in Oz, many of them were in lockdown during the All-Ireland final, so Eamon said they are planning a get together when restrictions ease to mark the achievement properly.