To ask about Limerick?

[justilou1]

We might be moving there from Australia and I honestly don't know the first thing about the place. Which areas would you move to if you had three kids (lower high school and upper primary), are not afraid of driving, etc....?
I have lived overseas before - The Netherlands, and I loved it. I imagine that Ireland would be a slightly easier transition because there is (almost) no language difference and the sense of humour is similar.

I honestly don't know who to ask!

[Trinity66]

Fatbergs
Culchie is ALWAYS positive in my view - my family are all proud culchies.
no jackeens here

Reclaiming the word and turning it into a positive?

[squoosh]

I heard someone say some young one was spotted drinking that Malibu in Monaghan last weekend.



I bet the pub went quiet when that strumpet ordered her new fangled drink.

[Clandestino]

In all fairness, my DD who is eight believes that our neighbour's kids who are in their late 30s and early 40s must have been extremely deprived because they certainly grew up without electricity. We live in the Royal County, not somewhere in the complete arse of the world like Donegal or something

[squoosh]

I'm a jackeen born to culchies. We just used to stare menacingly and shake our fists at one another over the dinner table.

[Trinity66]

Squoosh is a Plastic Culchie

[Clandestino]

squoosh

You're just a blow-in. The straw is still sticking to your shoes so you better start pretending and admit it. You can only have the status of a jackeen if you shudder at the thought of a cow giving milk and believe Avonmore is a factory where they produce it from scratch.

[squoosh]

I'm nobodies child!

I read once that to be a True Dub the three generations born before you must also have been born in Dublin. So that's probably 200 people who can claim to be a True Dub!

[squoosh]

The straw is still sticking to your shoes so you better start pretending and admit it. You can only have the status of a jackeen if you shudder at the thought of a cow giving milk

grin]

I remember once being given milk straight from the cow when staying on a relative's farm. I'm still not over it.

[AhJaysus]

I wouldn't like Limerick. I'm from the south east of Ireland.
It rains a lot in limerick and there are no good beaches there.

[Clandestino]

I remember once being given milk straight from the cow when staying on a relative's farm. I'm still not over it.

OK, you're third-way there, to be a proper Dub. They suck anyway. Royal County rules!

[Want2beme]

I live very close to Limerick, a county next to it, and the first time I visited the city, I was surprised at its city status. I'm from a huge city in another country and to me Limerick city is more of a big town. Anyway, Dooradoyle looks like a decent neighbourhood and has a good shopping centre, The Crescent, with the usual types of shops, River Island, Zara, H&M, Next, Boots, Monsoon, Carraig Donn, Tesco, Shaws department store, jewellery shops, a cinema, places to eat, have a coffee, etc. Good veterinary clinic, if you have pets. I'm not really that familiar with the area, but there's a boat club based in the city on the river Shannon and I've seen many a brave kayaker on it's freezing waters. I believe there's great hiking trails as well
www.slievebloom.ie/cms/

Adare village looks nice and Annacotty, which is very close to Limerick City
www.limerick.ie

My hairdresser lives in Castletroy and says it's a good place to live. I was going to mention the terrible weather here, there's an awful lot of rain and grey sky in this part of the country, but you seem prepared for it, so.
Good luck.

[UnderTheDesk]

I'm from Limerick. I left in 2001, but go back often. It's changed massively since I left. I'd move back to live in Killaloe in a flash if someone sorted out the godawful weather. Maybe in twenty years if global warming does its thing.

[EightdaysaweekIloveu]

GlitterUnicornsAndAllThatJazz wow just wow is all I can say....after laughing my ass off at your post.

Do you want some home truths about Oz? Rascim, closed minded people don't exist in Oz , lol... Your post is the most closed minded thing I've read in a long time.

[JaneJeffer]

In case anyone is thinking of moving to Highbury I recommend they read Emma by Jane Austen.

[Nocabbageinmyeye]

"There are no good beaches there" and "Have you read Angela's Ashes" Christ on a bike 😂

You should ignore anyone who refers to Limerick as stab city, that name went out with leg warmers and hasn't applied to the city in a long long time. Anyone who still uses that phrase clearly knows absolutely nothing about the city

[HollaHolla]

I went to limerick for the rugby once. Had a great time!
We did go to the Sin Bin nightclub tho - shallow end of the gene pool there....

[weepingangel12]

There are no good beaches there

Out on a limb here, but is that perhaps because Limerick is not on the coast?

[justilou1]

Thanks ladies - lots of ideas and places to start looking. I really appreciate your help. (I have just posted on Craicnet too.).

*Just to confirm that my husband is definitely NOT a rugby player. (He's fit and all, but far too old for that anyway!). He is not looking at working for Munster, either. Totally different field, sorry.

As for the racism stuff in Oz, I'd agree - but whether its openly discussed, or swept under the carpet, I suspect it's everywhere. I don't like it, and the best I can do is bring my kids up knowing that it's wrong. (They have a very eclectic friendship base and this makes me very happy.)

I think culturally, my kids may be somewhat shocked by the churchiness (it's a word, right?) of Ireland. I grew up as the daughter of a crazily entwined, large Irish Catholic family, and my husband's was smaller, but similar. I think we would cope.

[Thermowoman]

Ok, I'm Irish, (from the North though), and I moved from London to Cork for ten years before moving to Oz. I really would do a lot of research before moving to Limerick, and visit at least once in winter before committing yourself. Irish weather truly sucks, and I personally find Limerick a pretty depressing place, although YMMV. I found making friends quite difficult as a blow in, as a lot of Irish people stick to the friends they made in school. We absolutely did not have this problem when moving to Oz. My BIL works in Limerick but lives in Cork because he hates the place. Maybe have a look at Cork City as an option, I liked Cork a lot aside from the weather and cliqueyness.The pubs anywhere in Ireland are fantastic though, that's the only thing apart from family and friends that I miss.

[brizzledrizzle]

limerick is lovely, they have great countryside, friendly people, you can go to a barn dance and listen to great poetry. not all of this is true

[weepingangel12]

I think culturally, my kids may be somewhat shocked by the churchiness (it's a word, right?) of Ireland

again, not anymore. There is no churchiness at all, unless you want it. Most people have nothing to do with churches apart from weddings and funerals. You can find a non-denom school or if you are stuck with catholic you just opt them out of religion. Ireland isn't a bit churchy.

[GlitterUnicornsAndAllThatJazz]

@weepingangel12

Around 90% of schools are church-run.

You can't get a drink on Sunday mornings, good friday or christmas day.

You also can't have an abortion.

Personally I would describe that as "a bit churchy".

[Dulra]

As weepingangel said Ireland is no longer as catholic as it used to be. It is a very forward thinking young dynamic country. I live in dublin and my kids go to a non denominational school culturally things no longer revolve around the church we are a very changed society.

Glitter I'm laughing at your posts i think it must have been a very long time since you visited ireland. I lived in Australia for a time and found it very sexist and openly racist. Also not sure why you refer to all the young people leaving yes many left these shores during the recession but many stayed and we've the youngest population in europe. Most irish people will have travelled and lived abroad at some stage making us a very outward looking country

Not much help on limerick sorry never been which is actually pretty shocking but there are lovely towns and villages in commuter distance from the city. As far as schools go the irish education system is pretty consistent throughout the country and of a pretty good standard only problem with it iz it's pretty academic

[weepingangel12]

Church run schools are easy to opt out of religion.
Licensing laws are similar in other places, and are not felt to be churchy at all. (Who the fuck wants to go to the pub on Christmas day, or feels like its the church stopping them? also good friday is now a normal day)
You will be able to get an abortion soon, but I doubt OP's children will feel too bothered by that.

No, not churchy. It's yet another stupid outdated stereotype.

[MondayTuesdayWednesday]

Laughing here at an Australian calling another nationality insular, racist and sexist!! Hilarious!

Limerick did have a bad reputation a very long time ago. There are a couple of bad areas but what town or city doesn’t have those?

There are very nice subarbs like others have mentioned, dooradoyle, annacotty etc and nice nearby towns like adare and kilaloo that are worth looking into.

People are friendly and there are people from all over the world. Not as multi-cultural as UK cities as the Irish don’t have a history of colonising other countries which brought a lot of immigration to the UK but you will find lots of Australians, Chinese and other EU nationals in Ireland.

Ireland has a rich history of dance, literature and music and this continues. All of the creative minds haven’t left as another poster, who obviously knows nothing about Ireland suggested. There are a lot of events on all around Ireland such as music, theatre etc and with regard to professionals leaving, it is in fact quite the opposite.

Many who left Ireland in the 1990’s and are now in their 40’s have returned from all over the world to raise their children as Ireland is a great place for children. I know many who returned to limerick from the US and Australia.

Ireland is not perfect. Healthcare and childcare are expensive and the weather is awful but once you know that you won’t be surprised.

Again, shocked at some of the comments on here about Irish people and their country. If the same insults were said about English people there would be uproar!