To be thinking I might move to rep of Ireland?

[headcandygrl]

Aibu to think of moving to Ireland?
I am fed up of the lack of jobs here in the U.K.!
There seems to be (from the little research I have done) more benefits there (child benefit is WAY more!) , better job opportunities, less of an effect on jobs due to Covid. I have seen on here that they don't pay council tax! No water bills either. As far as I can see they pay slightly more tax! So it kind of evens out! But wages are better...
The education system there doesn't seem to pigeonhole children for a young age! They don't have to pass GCSE equivalents to do the A LEVEL equivalent...
University costs are less!! They have a grant system that is not paid back!!

Am I looking over with rose tinted glasses?? Is this the reality?? Anyone in Ireland who can clarify details for me?

Now I know they don't have an NHS like ours but from what I can see it is somewhat free for those that need it!!?

Oh and @kittykat35 I think we have more Pharma in Cork compared to Waterford .. just saying 😁😂😂

@GreyishDays - I wouldn’t even consider a Church of England school in England, let alone a catholic one, so it seemed a negative that we would have to have any sort of religious school. It wasn’t the only reason, so we didn’t look into it too much.

All schools in england have a religious element (i.e. required daily act of worship). My kids went to a catholic primary in Ireland. Not one school mass in the 8 years they spent there. Very little religion taught and it was not catholic specific.

I was put off by a pervasive religious thread flowing through everything really, not just schooling*

That's utter nonsense. Religion has very little impact on life in Ireland these days.

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]**@GreyishDays* - I wouldn’t even consider a Church of England school in England, let alone a catholic one, so it seemed a negative that we would have to have any sort of religious school. It wasn’t the only reason, so we didn’t look into it too much.*

All schools in england have a religious element (i.e. required daily act of worship). My kids went to a catholic primary in Ireland. Not one school mass in the 8 years they spent there. Very little religion taught and it was not catholic specific.

I was put off by a pervasive religious thread flowing through everything really, not just schooling*

That's utter nonsense. Religion has very little impact on life in Ireland these days.[/quote]
Funny how people still have that religious mindset about Ireland. My kids are not baptized and go to a school classes as catholic. No nuns, you can opt out of religion as a non Muslim and there are kids of all faiths.

My children go to multi denom primary and secondary schools, there was no problem getting them in. Every child that applied to both the primary and secondary got in this year.

Our rubbish and recycling are just over 300 a year, so your 25 a month was quite accurate.

I'm 34 and have never come across the 'unmarried parent' attitude someone was talking about.

We get health and dental insurance for the whole family paid for by dhs employer.

There are English people everywhere, in my dds class of 25, 4 of the kids have English parents, it isn't an issue.

Back to school costs can be expensive especially when they start secondary, ds needed a laptop as all their books are digital and most homework is sent in online and that added to the cost.

I moved back to Ireland recently. You won't get a mortgage until you've been earning in the country for a year at least. So you'll end up renting for a while.
There is no LA to coordinate your school applications so you'll have to call them all to see who has space. Plus side is that if they have a space it can be yours before you move. I found the education system at primary way more relaxed, your DC will be a bit ahead but that gives them time to learn Irish. Only get out from that is being over age 11 when you move or a relevant SEN diagnosis.
Waterford is lovely as is Tramore, but they are small and Waterford city center is really depressing these days as big name shops have pulled out.

@kittykat35

As someone in Ireland who works in pharma I can tell you *@3timeslucky* and OP that Waterford does indeed have lots of pharma companies (in fact some of the biggest...and a top 10 global pharma too!)

I stand corrected :-)

Is it still possible for a UK citizen to just 'move to Ireland'?

@FishesaPlenty

Is it still possible for a UK citizen to just 'move to Ireland'?

Yes. Common travel area is still in place and will remain after the transition period ends.

@Mishmased 🤣🤣 👍 cork probably does have more pharma to be fair but Waterford is hot for pharma at the moment too...there's two companies there that are expanding fast!!

I don't mind my dc learning Irish at all...they already speak fluent German as dh speaks German to them. Dh is also quite good at Irish even though he officially stopped learning it at 10. (But then again he could tell me that, what would I know 🤣)

Dh has been looking at job ops in the south east and it seems promising. I am still doing research on my side...but I don't mind staying at home for a while if needs be.

If we can sell our house and use our savings we hopefully won't need a mortgage. We have very little left on our current mortgage. Dh has an inheritance from his Dgf and I had some from my parents (my parents died 4 years ago, I was an only child so I have no family holding me here)

Religion has very little impact on life in Ireland these days

Hmm. Close to 90% of schools are under religious patronage. RC schools will spend significant time on preparing for FHC and confirmation sacraments leaving non-RC children in awkward situations. Many many schools are still single-sex which is residual fall-out from the religious ownership. Your access to schools may be impacted by your religion because of admissions policies despite recent changes to those policies. The ethos of the schools can still be "protected" (whatever that means).

On a social level you can guarantee that every one from the hairdresser to the cashier in the supermarket will ask an appropriately aged child if they're making their FHC this year.

Some hospitals still have religious on their boards and refuse to carry out certain procedures on foot of this. The control and influence is lessening but it is not gone. I'm not up to date on the Sisters and the NMH but that was raging up til recently (hopefully resolved now).

If you've always lived in Ireland it can feel like things are greatly improved (which they are). If you've lived in more secular countries it can be painfully obvious that we've a way to go.

Pubs are now open on Good Friday so I guess that's progress.

From my research it did seem like there was more religion in Ireland than England. It just didn’t seem like a smart move, as an atheist, to move somewhere with a much smaller proportion of ‘no religion’.
I wouldn’t want to move somewhere and then be complaining about it all the time.

And when we looked, four years ago, abortion was still illegal.
It all just added up to make a picture that wasn’t quite us. I hope I haven’t been unfair.

Funny how people still have that religious mindset about Ireland. My kids are not baptized and go to a school classes as catholic. No nuns, you can opt out of religion as a non Muslim and there are kids of all faiths

It seems to be luck of the draw on the school. I know people who have found it find and ones where either the children were expected to get involved, or were just left colouring down the back. It is hard to be left out of something so all-consuming when you're 7. Agree on the nuns: you'd be hard pushed to find one in schools these days.

@OchonAgusOchonO Thank you, I don't know where I'd got the idea that wasn't the case now.

@3timeslucky there are also educate together schools where there is no religion as all faiths are taught. But as a pp said everyone asks if your doing your holy communion 🙄 I just say no.

I’m Irish, as is my husband

We’ve been in London for years - but plan to go back to Dublin next year with our baby!

Dublin is expensive - I find it more expensive than London when I pop back for a visit - grocery shopping is definitely more expensive, going out to eat is more expensive

Public transport is pretty crap tbh

We will get a bigger house from the same money - here we have half the ground floor flat of a terrace with garden - cost us 400k

For the same money we will be able to get a 3 or 4 bedroom house with a garden!

No council tax - but bills tend to cost a bit more I find, also car insurance is pricier

Pretty much all banks charge you - it’s awful. Before I left I was charged 4euro a month unless I could keep my bank balance above 2500 - also things like contactless Incur a charge

It’s annoying - I think it’s because it’s such a small country and there isn’t as much competition for providers maybe? I don’t know tbh! We will get around the banking charges by using our revolut online bank accounts instead!

Gp costs 50euro a visit - a&e you will be given an invoice for 100euro

Depending on what health insurance you have - you can claim some of it back

Prescriptions are definitely more expensive

Education is better though in my opinion! Everyone (Pretty much) does their junior and leaving cert and you do a lot more subjects (I did 11 in junior cert and 8 in leaving cert as standard)

Uni - i only paid tuition of about 1500euro a year. Didn’t come out with a huge loan to pay back!

We’ve weighed it all up - and we are going back anyway as we miss our families and I want to be near ageing parents - and in general I feel like people are just more friendly at home, easier to make friends/meet new people!

I think my baby will have a much better life there!

@GreyishDays

I don't think you're being unfair. It is still an issue for a lot of people when it comes to education. In more populated areas there may be a choice of school but in some areas there is just the local RC school and that's it. We're still only rolling out abortion services now so that's still a work in progress. There's a huge cultural attachment to RC rites of passage so even the non-practicing may opt for FHC and Confirmation. It can make it hard to tell how many believers there are. It also depends where you are. I could have introduced you to lots of atheists though ;-)

And yes 90% of schools are still catholic - but there’s more options available now (educative together)

Plus you can opt out of religion now in catholic schools

My baby is not baptised and will not be doing Communion or Confirmation.

@kittykat35 it's all Munster so all good. More companies the better for us all 😁😁

@GreyishDays

And when we looked, four years ago, abortion was still illegal. It all just added up to make a picture that wasn’t quite us. I hope I haven’t been unfair.

I think you have been a bit unfair. There has been demand for legalisation of abortion for quite some time. The vote was pretty conclusive.

Re the number of people with no religion: a lot of people are cultural catholics so will go with communion etc but don't go to mass or engage with the church otherwise so the numbers classified in the census etc as catholic would be much higher than the number who are actually catholic. Dh, several census' ago put himself down as catholic. When I challenged him on it (we were both brought up catholic but have brought up our kids atheist as we have long since given up on it), he realised he did it automatically as it was his background iykwim. He changed it in the census...

My old health insurance a few years ago gave me 2 gp visits free and the rest at 70% of costs returned. My new policy gives me 50% of all visits back. I get my insurance through work so it doesn't cost me a cent.

OP it sounds like your children and husband will be fine, you have money, jobs, housing sorted and the children will be fine with Irish...but what about you? Do you have friends in Ireland? Any other family? Waterford is small, you'll find people have been friends since primary school and just kept those circles up. Your husband is Irish, how will you feel when he has "the lads" to go out with every weekend and you're sat on your toblerone? The power dynamic of your relationship might change and that's something to be aware of.

Ireland and England are much of a muchness when it comes to most things (bar the NHS) so the only thing that will be different are the support systems you have in place. It takes a long time to build up friendships to the popping in for a cuppa stage. Think carefully.

But please don't listen to anyone saying move to NI, it's the poorest region in the Uk & NI and the government can barely function. The only reason NI got abortion was because Stormont was in a stalemate for something stupid like 18 months and Westminster stepped in in the interim and passed it into law.

@Mishmashed
Yes there are ET schools but not everywhere and in many places massively over-subscribed. They're the exception rather than the default. It is good to see that patronage of many new schools is going to them but it is slow to change the balance/proportion.

I've spent my life and my children's lives explaining "No, not making the FHC". I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have to in many other countries. It isn't unpleasant, it just reflects the cultural norms I guess.

@Lalaloveyou2020 I have no family left unfortunately...so to me it doesn't make a huge difference where I am. I do have good friends here in the U.K. but I am extroverted so I have never struggled to make friends so far in life. That's not to say I won't find it hard...I might. But I'm longing for change...