A New Life:John O'Rahilly has left a career as a senior bank manager to become a sales director, helping with the development of luxury hotels and golf courses in Cape Verde, writes Cleo Murphy.
When John O'Rahilly left school he opted for a safe, secure career path in the local authority service.
A brief period as a student of engineering did nothing to inspire him but a summer spent with Cork County Council convinced him that he could have a comfortable working life in the service right up to retirement.
"I was following in family footsteps," he says. "A number of my relations had jobs in various councils."
He did well, moving through various projects in Millstreet, Mallow, Cork city, Kinsale and Clonakilty, gaining experience as he went and rising through the ranks.
None of the family, however, could have foreseen that O'Rahilly, in his 40s, would be involved in developing luxury hotels and golf courses on exotic tropical islands whose names were unheard of in the Ireland of the 1980s. It all happened in the past year and it is still something of a surprise to O'Rahilly himself.
The safe pensionable career has been blown away in favour of new opportunities. The former town clerk of Clonakilty now sits in the sun-filled foyer of a plush leisure resort in Cape Verde, discussing massive construction programmes that are aimed at making the islands a premier destination in the coming years.
He is rubbing shoulders with the likes of American golfer Ernie Els, who is designing golf courses for his employer, Cape Verde Developments. It's a long way from Clonakilty.
The prospect of life on a tropical island appears considerably more glamorous than working in a local authority or a bank. "That's not really how I see it," he says.
What he saw from the air, on his first visit last January, was barren desert land. What he saw on the ground was a dual carriageway, a desalination plant, sewage treatment works, and pipes leading from the capital Esparagos.
"It just didn't compute with the view from the air," he says. "What these people have done is put all the infrastructure in place before allowing the developers to move in.
"In Ireland, we develop first and worry about infrastructure afterwards. It indicated to me that a lot of forethought and planning was going into this place."
So began a relationship of huge respect with the officials and planners of Cape Verde with whom he would deal. O'Rahilly was invited onto the Cape Verde Developments project by Tom Sheehy of Clonakilty who is spearheading the investment.
Officially, O'Rahilly's title is sales director but he smiles slightly at that. "Sure I've no background in sales," he says.
Just as well then that units of planned resorts are being sold long before a stone is turned on a site.
What O'Rahilly does have is a background in environmental planning, accounting for a water schemes, road construction projects, taxation systems, dealing with bureaucracy and officialdom and trying to pull it all together. He has completed studies in management and local government. Above all, he feels he understands community and is committed to it.
"I got involved in every community I ever lived in. I had no sooner landed in Clonakilty than I was secretary of the West Cork Rally.
"I always have to immerse myself in what I am doing and where I am.
"During my five years as town clerk there, the town added 4,000 bednights to its tourism business. We won the Tidy Towns, the Entente Florale and the World Nation in Bloom competition. It was a fantastic place for getting things done," he says.
"I remember Cllr Jimmy O'Regan used to say: 'It's community first, second and always'. He also taught me that with any project it was important to get everyone on board first and let them be arguing their differences afterwards.
"Clonakilty came a long way very quickly when Ireland boomed because people want to visit west Cork but the accommodation hadn't been there before.
"It's the same with Cape Verde but we're in at the very beginning and we're in a position to make a real difference. I never imagined that there was a place left in the world that was such a blank canvas. Somebody is definitely going to develop it. I just want to see it done right," O'Rahilly says.
On that first visit to Cape Verde last January he realised when he touched the ground that his mobile phone wasn't working and he was forced into idleness for a few days.
O'Rahilly had left the local authority service in Cork and spent the previous five years working for ACC Bank as a senior manager. It was a pressurised role and the experience of not having a phone connection was surreal to him.
"It was a bit of a reality check and it gave me time to think," he says.
He walked the beach and marvelled at the colour of the sea. He strolled around the town of Santa Maria and "did the tourist thing". He came into contact with the local people, whom he has since come to love.
The entire experience confirmed to him that his decision to row in with Cape Verde Developments was the right one. He would almost go so far as to say he had found his spiritual home.
Looking at the existing hotels he satisfied himself that the Cape Verdians were competent construction workers.
The planned construction projects are long term and O'Rahilly still has a lot of work to do in Europe but once that's completed, he intends moving to the islands.
"Could you blame me?" he asks, sweeping his arm through the warm breezes in the hotel lobby but really indicating towards the beaches, the sea, the mountains.
Initially, he will live on the island of Sal where the bulk of his work with Cape Verde Developments will continue, but ultimately he has his eye on a home on the less-developed, more populated island of Sao Vicente, Cape Verde's cultural capital.
Here they perform carnival in the Brazilian style and hold music festivals which attract Portuguese, Brazilians and Angolans. As a former Portuguese colony, Cape Verde has the mark of elegance. Its Afro-Portuguese heritage makes it a nation of music lovers.
But the place is poor. O'Rahilly sees the need for social housing. He has a huge amount of knowledge and experience that he can pass on to planners and politicians. Already he's establishing a relationship with them and some of them have visited Ireland to meet business and community leaders here and learn about Ireland's experience of growth and development. There is plenty to be done and O'Rahilly is likely to stay busy and inspired for years to come.
So can he see himself actually living out his days in Cape Verde? He shrugs whimsically and beams like a happy man. "Yep, most likely."