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By Michelle Wray

Newfoundland and Ireland are an ocean apart but as a couple of guys named Liam found out, the two places aren't all that different.

Liam Walsh of Ferryland says the connection between his hometown and Ireland is a historical one that hasn't changed much over time. Walsh says most of the people in this area have their roots in Ireland. Many of these people's ancestors came from southern Ireland around 100 years ago. "Traditions and language haven't really changed much. I guess where it was so isolated we never really had a chance to change because there wasn't a whole lot of people who came in to change it," Walsh says. Walsh was leading a boat tour when he met Liam O'Neachtain of Waterford, Ireland. The two men's accents were so similar they had a hard time telling who came from where.

Video version of this story by Michelle Wray

"Well I couldn't believe when I got on the boat and heard Liam who's from here. I swore I was actually home," O'Neachtain says.

O'Neachtain was visiting St. John's to take part in STEM~Net's Hook, Line and Net '98 Conference in August. The event was aimed at giving students, teachers, and adults a chance to learn about technology together.

O'Neachtain says the Ireland-Newfoundland connection is extremely close.

"Our ancestors have been coming here for the past two or three hundred years. To me, I'm coming to a second home," O'Neachtain says.

Michelle Wray has just graduated from Auburn Drive High School in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

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