A New Life: Marine biologist makes seamless transition into career in the family firm, writes Brian O'Connell
Just a few hundred yards from the panini-purchasing execs on Cork's South Mall, Helen Moynihan is putting the final stitches to a newly made naval uniform on its way to South Africa.
Background noise comes from three vintage Singer sewing machines whispering in the back room, where her father, John, is making a tweed suit for a retired bank manager.
Decades of material cuttings double as flooring, while the walls are adorned with newspaper articles and photographs showing the odd celeb or two having their measurements taken.
The scene hasn't changed all that much since Moynihan's great grandfather arrived in Cork from Kerry to set up the first Moynihan's Tailors in the late 19th century.
Yet the times are changing, and in the past few months Helen Moynihan's career as a marine biologist has taken a backseat, as she looks to become the first female tailor in the Moynihan family business for almost two centuries.
The Moynihan workshop on Parliament Bridge might be a world away from fish farms on the western seaboard, yet having spent most of her childhood in the tailoring workshop, Moynihan is finding the adjustment pretty seamless.
"We'd always be in here messing around with machines or pulling at thread or that type of thing when we were younger. The place is exactly the same as it was back then - there are still cobwebs on the ceilings and cuttings on the floor. I was always interested in fashion - I think most women are," she explains.
"Over the years, if dad were ill from time to time, I'd be down from Galway to keep the place going, so I have been in and out from time to time. In the past few months though I have been making a greater commitment to the business, and am now learning the craft of tailoring so that I'll be in a position to take over."
Given Moynihan's career path, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that she would one day enter the family business. An early interest in nature and the sea led her to a course in marine biology at NUI Galway and on to a career as a successful marine biologist.
"I was always interested in marine life, and generally in nature and animals. As a child I'd watch programmes such as David Attenborough and was fortunate enough to attend an all-Irish secondary school from where I got a scholarship to study in Galway," she says.
"After that I went to Norway on a scholarship for a year and then onto France on another bursary - I was always great at getting those things.
"I became fascinated by bacteria, and in particular the evolution of parasites, but I mean where are you going with that really?
"I realised that I wasn't academic and was more into the business side of things, so I started working for a salmon farm in Connemara.
"The Irish came in handy and I eventually worked to the point where I had 13 people employed at one stage, mostly in fish health related work. The mainstay of the work involved travelling around the country to sites and vaccinating fish to protect them against disease."
While the work demanded long hours and substantial mileage, it was varied enough to keep Moynihan interested for 13 years.
Gradually though, she realised her true calling lay in the family business, and over the past few months she has been relocating from Connemara back to her hometown.
"I never really had a career plan. I started by doing one farm and suddenly it snowballed into months of work travelling from Donegal to Bantry. It was varied but pretty hectic and I guess I was ready for a change. I was always interested in clothes and any time I was at home, I would be in the workshop. From time to time I miss the marine work, but especially I miss living in Connemara beside the sea."
So far, Moynihan's working day is taken up with alterations, but in time she is determined to learn how to measure, fit and make a tailor-made suit. The Moynihans have made suits for generations of Irish families, including the likes of Jack Lynch and, more recently, Cillian Murphy's character in The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
The business has never been busier, and yet there is a peaceful tranquillity to working in a tailoring workshop, where every garment is made to order and often laboured over for days at a time.
"Outside the front door it's the fast lane, especially given that we are next to the South Mall. In here though, while not exactly the slow lane, everything is done by hand in a gradual manner, right on the doorstep of a speedy, fast and stressful society.
"The actual making of a garment is quite a nice thing and sometimes I look around here and my father is in the back room and he's totally engrossed in his work.
"There are times when working in here is probably better than any mediation you could do."