Move from Aus to Ireland

[BiscuitBeast]

Hi,

Could anyone help with what areas are good for a young family that are commutable into Dublin?

Quiet, rural community setting with good schooling is my preference maybe an hours drive to the city.

Are there any good websites you could recommend?

We are originally from Essex, currently residing in Melbourne Australia with a potential move for work purposes.

Thanks.

Dalkey is quite nice

Dun laoghaire is also nice. North Dublin is best avoided, like Coolock and Finglas 😬😬

Greystones/Delgany would be an hour south of Dublin, lots of young families, seaside, good schools, regular trains into town

Any other criteria? Budget, etc

@morallybankruptme erm... surely you don't mean the entirety of North Dublin? What about Clontarf? Raheny? Malahide? Portmarnock?There are dodgy areas of South Dublin as well. OP Blackrock, Killiney, Glastule are lovely. Pricey though.

Www.daft.ie for finding housing

Daft.ie is the go to website for renting/buying.

Enniskerry might be what you're looking for, it's a village and fairly rural. Or any of the mountain locations so long as you're prepared to drive the DC to school, like Glencullen, Ticknock, Tibradden, Kilmacanogue. Greystones and Delgany are both lovely too as previously mentioned, however in rush hour they might be over an hour, the M11 can be very slow south-bound in the evenings. Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey are both fairly urban so probably not the the rural vibe you're looking for, but they are by the sea which is nice.

Chris de Burgh's house is for sale, if you fancy it, here. Is that the sort of thing you had in mind? Only €12.5m.

You might also like Howth or Sutton, they are on a peninsula so have a separate from Dublin vibe while still being reasonably close to the city.

If you know where the office is likely to be based then you'd have a better idea of which side of Dublin would be better to commute from.

Thanks all, you've given me plenty to look into.

Budget wise, we need to sit and work through. Maybe 1900pcm.

Office is located in the centre of Dublin.

For some reason I assumed that you were buying. Renting in Dublin is a flipping nightmare at the moment and hugely expensive. Definitely check out Daft.ie for an idea of what you can get for your money, but be aware that anywhere decent will have at least 10 or 15 potential renters chasing it and will be gone within a few days of going up on Daft. I'm hearing lots of stories of families with a really good income having to live in hotels for quite extended periods while they look for somewhere to rent. Could the company that you are coming to work for help you by arranging a corporate let for the first few months?

This article will give you an idea of rents in proximity to public transport. Rent in Dublin is ridiculously expensive and as PP mentioned properties to let are is such short supply. Definitely try to have something secured before moving over.

www.thejournal.ie/dart-rental-dublin-4675808-Jun2019/

It's also worth considering other costs as it doesn't sound as though you'll be on a large ex-pat package. Salaries may seem quite generous but costs are high, I'm not sure how they compare to Australia but I moved back to Ireland after living in the UK for a couple of decades and it's MUCH more expensive here.

For instance you will need health insurance for your family, which varies according to the level of cover, I pay nearly €3k for my family for quite high level cover. Plus you pay €50-€60 for a GP visit (under 5s are free) and retail price for prescription drugs up to a maximum of €124-ish per family per month (you can get some tax relief on medical costs, plus you might be able to claim some back from your health insurance depending on level of cover).

I pay twice as much for my phone contract as I did in the UK and more than twice as much for my broadband and cable tv, and if you prefer rural areas you might not even be able to get broadband as availability is a bit hit and miss. Utilities cost more (except for water which isn't directly charged for), having the bins emptied is a shocker, they weigh the bins as they empty and charge by weight as well as a lift charge and an annual charge.

Most people go to National School for primary, which is free and they are generally good. However most of them have a religious basis and the non-denominational ones are very popular and generally over subscribed. If you go for a religious school but aren't a parishioner you will be considered after parishioners. You will definitely get a school but you might need to travel to it. In primary school you pay for books (about €70 a year) and usually a voluntary sub and a uniform. For secondary people tend to choose a school that suits their child's interests and temperament, and most people that I know go to fee-paying secondaries. There are also some really good non fee-paying schools, again they are over-subscribed and people usually have their DC's names down from quite young. Fees are generally in the region of €7k per year, plus uniform (around €500) plus books (€300 ish).

Personally I don't recommend Dublin. It is over crowded, a lot of homeless and drug problems and not very clean in the areas I have been too. Plus it is very expensive and hard to fine a home to buy/ rent as has been in the news a lot in the past few years

Try living elsewhere and commuting.

I have family that live outside Dublin and commute . M1 goes all the way to Dublin from Belfast . Family friendly places in Co.Meath and County Louth . You can rent a 4 bedroom house for that sum , rather than a flat in Dublin. Depends how open you are to commuting. Pretty common to do an hour due to house prices, etc.

If you're going to commute then look to live on a train line, much better than driving. Roughly an hour would get you North to Drogheda, south to Wicklow town/Gorey, west to Kildare/Tullamore area.

I'd go south, lovely countryside and beaches. Gorey is a good town, lots of shopping, cafes, schools, near the sea. There's a lovely country house with gardens, adventure playground and petting zoo we went to a couple of years ago, full of local families with annual membership, I remember thinking it would be a great area to commute from.

Remember car commute can be hell.

If you could tell us which part of the city the job will be it would be easier to advise.
Dublin sprawls a lot and crossing the city in rush hour is a disaster

The city Centre is pretty big. Which bit of the city Centre?

I live in north Dublin and I'm English. I love it! Where I live is nice but it is part of the city.

If you want a rural location about an hour to Dublin, I would look at Skerries it's probably a bit cheaper than Malahide. Both have good primary (National) and secondary schools and have lots of lovely boutiques and restaurants. Both on the coast with pretty walks / beaches, but surrounded by countryside.

I would agree Sutton and Howth are lovely too, not rural though. Enniskerry or Delgany / Greystones are nice on the south side and I would class them as separate to Dublin, they are rural. Dalkey and Killiney are lovely but not rural.

Oh good too for you since you'reEnglish, if you're Church of England you can get the kids into a Church if Ireland school which are usually good, small class sizes and mixed sex.

Www.myhome.ie

There is no central application for schools, you have to look up the admission policy for the school and then approach them directly.

www.schooldays.ie

Make sure you have accomdation lined up before you move. It is eyewatering expensive and very limited. You and your family will most likely need Private Health Insurance which is also pricey, waiting lists here are bonkers particularly for ophthalmic, Gynae and Orthopaedic and I do not know if you would be eligible for public care anyway. Childcare is also very expensive and a new law has been introduced re staff ratio for childcare after school which is expected to reduce dramatically the number of places available. Driving in and out of the City Centre is not for the faint hearted and parking is expensive if not available in your workplace. You need to do a huge amount of research before you make your decision. Even look at things like the price of heating a house for six to eight months of the year. Go to one of our online supermarkets and price your weekly shopping. Look up the average price of fuel and compare that to your commute from areas you plan to live

Thanks for all your advice, really appreciate everyone's input.

We've decided that it's not in our best interest to make the Ireland move.