Fashion designer Don O'Neill on returning to Ireland: ‘I couldn’t have kept up that pace’

Don O’Neill moved from New York to Ballyheigue earlier this year. The designer to the stars talks candidly with Ruth O’Connor about the collapse of his business, burnout —and the joy of moving home

Don O’Neill, fashion designer extraordinaire: now calling Ballyheigue home after 30 years in the Big Apple. Picture: Miki Barlok

At the end of August, after 30 years in New York, Don O’Neill (57) moved home to his native Ballyheigue with his husband Pascal Guillermie, his “rock” and “the wind beneath [his] wings”.

“This is as huge a life change for him as it is for me and he did so willingly and gladly, leaving urban New York for rural Ballyheigue which he loves with all his heart.”