Ann Dempsey

Munich

ANN, an entrepreneur who founded an investment portfolio firm with her brother, grew up in Terenure, Dublin and moved over to Germany 15 years ago. On being told she was the second ever female Grand Marshal for the Munich parade, she admits: ‘I was a bit shocked. I thought, ‘they must have no-one else’. But I’m delighted.’

Again, the Munich parade happens a week before the 17th, and this year’s parade played out on a gloriously sunny day in front of 20,000 revellers. Among her duties as Grand Marshal, Ann presented the shamrock to the Mayor of Munich.

‘It was the first parade I ever walked in,’ she admits. ‘There are only about 750 Irish people here, but the Germans really loved it.’

Now happily married to a German and with the couple raising their six-year-old son Karl to be ‘Birish’ (or BavarianIrish), Ann admits that home is rarely far from mind. Eight years ago, she was instrumental in setting up the Munich Irish network.

‘We set the network up after the 2008 crash, thinking that Irish people might come here to Germany,’ she says. ‘Instead of having to go to Irish bars, this way they’d be able to meet friends and have someone to help connect them in terms of Germany’s different structures and policies.’

‘I miss my family and friends, and that’s where my heart is, but I have a great life and live in a beautiful pace alongside great people,’ Ann says.

‘It’s my aim to build a better bridge (between the two communities).’