Moving to Ireland- help!

[TheCats4245]

Hello

I have been offered a position with a company in Ireland. I would be able to work 99% remotely, so have pretty much complete freedom of where I could live, however they would like me to be in the country.

I have looked at house prices in Ireland, and it looks like properties with land are much cheaper than in England, which would be a massive plus for us, as we can’t afford any land where we live. The position itself sounds amazing, and I feel it would be brilliant for my career.

I have a number of concerns and questions- I have never been to Ireland, so have no idea what it’s like!

My main concerns are if my partner would be able to find a job easily (building supplies trade), as we would need two incomes still.

Secondly, we have an Irish friend who tells us that in general, Ireland can be a bit anti- English. We are from the very north of England, and have strong accents, so potentially people may struggle to tell where we are from in a short conversation, but we don’t want to be uncomfortable. I’m not sure if my friend is exaggerating, but when I’ve googled this I get very conflicting views, so I though best to ask actual opinions!

Thirdly, we are from a very rural area in England, and would like to move to a similar area in Ireland if possible- however I know when new people move to our community, the older people especially are very unfriendly, and it takes years for people to be accepted. Is this similar in rural Ireland?

Finally, can anyone recommend any areas to visit? I have a week to make a decision, so we have booked the ferry and are planning on going visiting as much as we can (obviously bearing in mind restrictions!)
Luckily I have a long notice period so time to move etc.

We would like somewhere rural, but within half an hour or so to a town with shops etc, but would consider somewhere slightly more built up. If possible we would like to be near the sea. I have horses, so somewhere with a good equestrian community would be a plus, for my partner, wherever we can get the cheapest land would be best as his hobby is growing vegetables.

Any suggestions? I was not expecting to be offered the job so this has all come out of the blue!

Health Insurance really only applies from hospital/consultant level. It does not apply really to Primary Care like GP and Dentist etc. Other than presenting to A&E you will find it hard to access secondary care without GP referral. You really need to research this in general to Ireland and to the area you are planning to move to. Your Private health Insurance will have no impact on accessing /registering with a gp. (I work in this area and regularly (multiple times daily hear from people who cannot get in GP waiting list as self paying patients not to mind say register.) It is nothing like NHS.

www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-the-pottle-ballon-co-carlow/3517478

House with 1.2 acres near Carlow town.

Carlow gets overlooked, but it has the Institute of Technology, good shops, rail and motorway access, and fairly close to Dublin and Kilkenny.

Your budget isn't massive, is that 250k stg or Euro?

What about Laytown or Bettystown or Julianstown? You might get something around there, you'd be an hour from Dublin, 40 minutes from the airport, and five minutes from the beach. 20 minutes from a big town (Drogheda).

what about this. In budget

Not a gorgeous house but near the beach, village.
Big town not far away. Dublin and airport 45 minutes away.

The cost of living is more expensive in Ireland. I had friends there who would drive 90 miles to Northern Ireland once a month and load the car up with shopping

Maybe ten years ago when the pound was good value. Nobody does that any more, prices are better in Ireland and wages are higher.

@PearlyBird

Your budget isn't massive, is that 250k stg or Euro?

What about Laytown or Bettystown or Julianstown? You might get something around there, you'd be an hour from Dublin, 40 minutes from the airport, and five minutes from the beach. 20 minutes from a big town (Drogheda).

She's looking for an acre of land! Not a bungalow with a tiny garden.

Ok blimey, i missed that it had to be an acre. I would rather pass on the acre and settle for a mere garden 45 mins from dublin/airport !! But each to their own!

@PearlyBird

Ok blimey, i missed that it had to be an acre. I would rather pass on the acre and settle for a mere garden 45 mins from dublin/airport !! But each to their own!

They have horses, so I assume it’s not an option.

Ah right, horses, sorry.

Best of luck with the move. Some really gorgeous places to move to. I personally love Galway and Sligo for the scenery. I would definitely rent to get a feel of the place before committing to purchasing a home.
Word of warning about broadband. I live 5miles outside of a major city and my connection is shocking. I'm by no means rural. If your work requires decent Internet I'd check speeds and connection types before buying

@mathanxiety

www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-the-pottle-ballon-co-carlow/3517478

House with 1.2 acres near Carlow town.

Carlow gets overlooked, but it has the Institute of Technology, good shops, rail and motorway access, and fairly close to Dublin and Kilkenny.

Ballon is lovely

It's worth being aware that even if you buy a house with good broadband it might not be available to you. A family from school moved house to a slightly more rural area (still within the same parish though). The house that they bought had good broadband but after they moved in it turned out that there weren't enough connections for every house to have one. There is a waiting list. When the people they bought from moved out their connection went to the next house on the waiting list.

Also rural areas pay more for electricity. That used to drive my Dad nuts because we were right on the edge and had to pay rural rates. It was a bloody Dublin suburb but the ESB always refused to reclassify our road.

@ManifestDestinee

The cost of living is more expensive in Ireland. I had friends there who would drive 90 miles to Northern Ireland once a month and load the car up with shopping

Maybe ten years ago when the pound was good value. Nobody does that any more, prices are better in Ireland and wages are higher.

We will when the new minimum alcohol unit pricing kicks in I'd say. Booze and firework runs all day, every day.

@ManifestDestinee

The cost of living is more expensive in Ireland. I had friends there who would drive 90 miles to Northern Ireland once a month and load the car up with shopping

Maybe ten years ago when the pound was good value. Nobody does that any more, prices are better in Ireland and wages are higher.

It can flip flop a bit. One of my friends grew up near the border in Donegal and there was a guy who owned two petrol stations, one on either side. He only operated one of them at a time depending on how exchange rates and tax affected petrol prices. So sometimes people from Ireland would be driving 10m into the UK and sometimes (much less often to be fair) people from NI would be driving 10m into Ireland to buy petrol.

Anyway, I think NI are still having supply troubles at the moment so wouldn't do a big shopping trip there just now. One of my Mum's friends who lives in Belfast was saying a few months ago that she tries to get to the supermarket before 10am otherwise lots of stuff is sold out.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar very true. My parents have Imagine and their neighbours are on a waiting list,only decent provider in their area.
For our house the fibre cable literally stops at our neighbours so we have no fibre optic option. It has effected our Sky account as the Internet is too slow to watch the boxsets (which are now "free" after the latest price hike )