Wanaka’s new councillor Niamh Shaw has risen to the challenge of serving her community after being a Kiwi for five months and a local for just two and a half years.

Niamh (pronounced Neeve) was elected to the Queenstown Lakes District Council in October last year with 2522 votes, ranked third in popularity stakes behind incumbents Quentin Smith (3373) and Calum Macleod (2663).

Niamh is from Limerick, Ireland, and has also lived in London and Dubai.

She and her Kiwi husband Andrew met while working in the IT industry in the Middle East. They later moved to Auckland and then Blenheim and Oamaru, before arriving in Wanaka with their two young children in May 2017.

Niamh and Andrew had visited Wanaka for holidays so the decision to relocate was easy. “It was ‘hell, yes’,’’ she said.

It’s been a fast track to the council table for Niamh, who is raising a family, volunteering in the community and a member of the Wanaka Primary School board of trustees.

Niamh’s crew at work on her campaign billboard.

She burst into the media limelight at the beginning of 2019 when she went in to bat for a group of Northlake residents who were legally prevented from submitting against a proposed hotel and planning changes in their subdivision.

As president of Wanaka Community Supporting Our Northlake Neighbours Incorporated, Niamh followed the debate through to Environment and High Court level, and was then asked by supporters to consider standing for council.

She agreed, despite some initial reservations about whether she had been around long enough.

“I knew I didn’t have a big profile and thought my chances were quite slim, so I decided to be laid back about it.’’

She was also reminded by her brother-in-law she was not yet a citizen, so worked quickly to get her citizenship conferred in July.

Her campaign was “full on and surreal’’. She loved connecting with people but did not enjoy public speaking. And her two primary-school aged children were cheeky enough to tell her the campaign was “boring’’.

“Of course, by the time the campaign had finished, it really did matter to me whether I got in or not. But I always felt like I was an outlier so when the results came in, it was wonderful,’’ she said.

Niamh has a degree in applied maths and computing from the University of London and worked for Price Waterhouse as a trainee accountant before realising her forte was project management.

Niamh finds many similarities between Irish people and Kiwis.

She switched to the company’s IT Business Systems team and helped roll out a human resources Management system and other programmes in offices across Europe.

One day, she responded to a newspaper advertisement for an IT training manager for a group of companies in Dubai. By the end of the day, she’d been interviewed and had accepted an offer.

“I had never been there and had no idea, but it is one of the things I am most proud of. I went to Dubai and didn’t know anybody and I was just 24-years-old.’’

While in Dubai, Niamh “tumbled into journalism’’ and began working on two “chick-lit’’ novels, Smart Casual and About Time, which were published by Headline UK.

After flirting with her muse, Niamh moved back into project management roles for the remainder of her ten years in the Middle East.

Although “incredibly proud’’ to have written two books, Niamh admits she found the writing process socially isolating at times.

“I like my privacy but I am intensely social too. You write a lot in your head ... writing is a strange blend of confidence and self-doubt. You have to have confidence to believe in yourself and carry on writing, and enough self-doubt to critique yourself ... I struggled with both sides of that, but mainly it was an isolating experience,’’ she said.

After their decade in Dubai, the couple wanted to plug into a quiet place, live remotely, work from home, yet still have a community.

After spending time in Auckland and Marlborough, they chose Oamaru to begin their family, close to Andrew’s parents, who live at Maheno.

Niamh began volunteering for Oamaru’s toy library and then the Waitaki District Council offered her consultancy work.

Niamh said when she and Andrew decided to move to Wanaka, they were aware the cost of living and land was high, while wages were low.

“I think a lot of people come to Wanaka for the environment or lifestyle and think they are going to take a sabbatical or work from home or set up on their own business, and they quickly realise they can’t afford to take too long a sabbatical or have the discipline to work from home. That takes a certain personality type. I feel that there are more opportunities to set up business now but not everyone is wired that way, either,’’ she said.

Niamh expects her main council debates during 2020 to include the future of Wanaka Airport, the district spatial plan, the Wanaka town centre master plan and the district’s environment and climate action plan.

“I think this place is suffering from serious growing pains. Queenstown is a lot further along the track. In Wanaka, I think, the growing pains are sharper.’’

Something that has always concerned her is the effect of development on the environment and the amount of building waste being generated.

“Very obvious examples of concern’’ include stormwater run-off from developments into Bullock Creek (Alpha Series) and the Clutha River (Northlake via Hikuwai), she said.

“It is my opinion we need to be putting more controls into how urban development can be planned, given our proximity to fresh water and the extreme weather events. There is a potential for Wanaka to be a world leader in urban design around fresh water,’’ she said.

Niamh misses Ireland but says she has been outside her birth country for so long and there have been so many changes, she cannot recognise it easily.

However, she finds many similarities between Irish people and Kiwis.

“We both live on small islands and are really quite remote from the rest of the world. That does lend itself to a particular culture. I think the Irish and Kiwis are quite laid back,’’ she said.

PHOTO: Supplied