life in ireland?

[marnie]

Hi! My husband and I are looking to relocate, and Dublin (or perhaps another Irish city) has popped up on our list.

Please tell me your perceptions about life in Ireland. Specifically we are interested in the climate of the people (in terms of opinions for the future, activism, etc.), the respect for education, and a basic consideration for quality of life.

Anything else you would like to add, please feel free!

My husband and daughter are italian citizens and I have european residency so we could move there without immigration problems. My husband and I both work from home, remotely, so it doesn't matter where on the planet we live as far as work is concerned.

[Irishmommy]

I hope you're rich!!! Housing prices there are astronomical, as is the cost of living, especially in Dublin.

[marnie]

can you talk average figures? i'm not rich but currently living in New York City. I can't imagine it could be any worse.

[TracyD]

Well if you can work from home I'd go for it. I've lived in San Francisco and Singapore and found moving back to Ireland not as expensive as I expected. You can shop around for groceries etc and Dublin is definitely not a cheap place to live but comparable to NY or San Francisco especially if you are planning on buying property. The traffic is brutal in Dublin but that won't be a factor for you if you're not commuting anywhere :-)

Best of luck with your decision - it's an exciting one to make.

Tracy

[raeinparis]

hiya

i moved to paris from dublin four years ago and our cost of living went down! basics can be quite expensive, and as mentioned, the housing prices are crazy. we have a nice two bedroom apartment near the centre of paris and we wouldn't be able to buy anything comparable in dublin if we sold up today.

quality of life-wise, i think you might want to look around ireland. i know folks who left dublin for kilkenny and kerry and they have an improved quality of life. leitrim (of all places) is apparently an organic farmers' heaven now. do you have to live in a city? galway is a great town but the weather isn't as good (ha!) as dublin's. galway is way groovier than dublin -- my 80+ year old great aunt had acupuncture there as part of a treatment for cancer. i know, acupuncture shouldn't be a barometer of grooviness, but i wanted to give you an idea that alternative therapies are available.

having moved country sight unseen only once (to japan), i recommend taking a week or two to wander around -- maybe a day or two per city to see what each one is like.

education is very very important in ireland, or at least to the people i've known there. i'm pleased that we're planning on keeping our ds here in secular france for primary education so we won't have to go through the avoidance of religion classes. most national schools are catholic and teach reconciliation, first communion and confirmation as part of the curriculum. no doubt we will be running back for secondary education.

right, enough from me! i have a rather mundane question and i'll post it on this thread.

a+
rachael

[Irishmommy]

For real estate, check out myhome.ie

[Drewsmom]

Also, if you're being paid in American dollars they are weak right now compared to the Euro which makes things even more expensive to live there.

[maxmama]

But on the happy side, as an American who lived in Dublin 10 or so years ago, it's a great place in many ways. There are a lot of subtleties to Irish culture that I never quite got, but I don't understand people from the East Coast of the States either.

The pace of work is NOT like the States. I worked for the Bank of Ireland and people actually took breaks. Long ones. Long lunches. No one (at the time) worked overtime. It's businesslike, but it's not got the overwhelming need to be continually busy that many Americans have.

There are so many political parties! I never could keep them straight.

I lived in Dublin 2, just south of Temple Bar. We were back visiting a year ago and I hardly recognized it.

I absolutely agree that you should consider not living in Dublin. The West is gorgeous, but has less opportunity for jobs. It is much cheaper though.

[elanais]

One warning..if you work from home and depend on broadband access to the Internet, it's very hit or miss. One side of the street can have it, and the other not. And that's in Dublin, the best place to have broadband (well, Ennis might be better). Out in the country, it slowly goes down even more.

[Drewsmom]

Does it rain there constantly? Is it like England which I always picture as rarely seeing the sun?

[courtenay_e]

In my experience it rains DIFFERENTLY from England. It DOES often rain, but then the sun comes out almost immediately. And there are many "soft" days...but they're certainly not unpleasant. The time I've spent there with my family and now my kids has been wonderful...the spring and fall is a bit cooler than perhaps new york could be, but the summer is comparable, I think. The winters, on the other hand tend to be much milder than you'd be accustomed to in New York. My family lives on a mountain in the north and if they get one snowstorm a season with more than a few inches of snow it's a lot for them...did you know that there are palm trees in ireland? :)

[Drewsmom]

I didn't know that! That's really interesting, palm trees, go figure.

How warm/hot does it get in the summer temperature wise?

[Mrs_Hos]

Hi ladies!
I'm here in Ireland right now...on a tour of the country (and Scotland) and it is a very beautiful country! We saw Dublin first, very crowded, and traffic was kinda crazy (VERY close to the cars next to you! I'd have to have a MINI!) I would say it reminded me of San Francisco or LA with the amount of people/traffic...but the traffic is mainly due to small roads and not as much 'highway' system.
Right now we are in Waterford...love it here...the country is gorgeous and I would choose country verses the City (Dublin) even though I consider myself a 'city type' person (but more 'small city' like Cincinnati, OH)
Anyways...I love Ireland...it is expensive, but comparable to NYC...I would only say that I haven't found many 'cheapo' places like we have in the USA..."Goodwill" or other 2nd hand stores aren't around here that I have noticed (and our tour guide didnt' know of any...)
:)