Moving from UK to Ireland - cost of living

[gobblegobblenibblenibble]

It's another considering moving back to Ireland thread but I wanted to ask for specific info about the cost of living to help inform our decision making. Myself and DH are seriously considering moving back to his hometown / home county from London where we've kicked together for the last 15ish years. We're early thirties and have two young children. We'll hopefully be able to buy a house outright so no mortgage costs but won't earn as much so I wanted to know what our other expenses are likely to be so we can see if it's a realistic idea.

So - how much does it cost you to live? We want to buy a minimum 4 bed house. Then we'll need to pay for electric, heating, internet, fuel (I know this will depend on how much we use the car if we drive to work etc), phone bills, health insurance, food shopping and I'm sure lots of things I've not considered?

I am well aware that how much we spend will depend on our lifestyle and how frugal or not we choose to be - but just as a starting point can anyone give me an idea of what life costs them currently? I'm really interested in the healthcare aspect as obviously we have the nhs here so it's quite different and then any other costs associated with schools as I know books and all that need to be bought.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi @gobblegobblenibblenibble
I'm Irish, lived here my whole life. In the midlands. Very rurally.
Our house is a 4/5 bed bungalow, on a 2 acre site. Mortgage is €740pm
Electricity bill roughly €300 every 2 months
Phones €30 each pm
Internet 40 pm (and it's pretty shite)
School books will be free here next year but this years cost €95 including all stationary
Uniforms approx €200 but don't go by me I buy way more than I need. They are widely available in supermarkets and reasonably priced.
Grocery shopping approx €180pw (there are 3 of us)
Healthcare we have insurance paid for by DH's work.
It costs €60 to visit the gp where we go.
Children under 6 are free.
Dental is private
We burn turf so our heating costs are minimal.
We also have oil €500 every 18months for that....
I can't think of anything else! But feel free to
Pm or ask specific questions here.

Petrol is about €1.85 at the moment depending on where you are I'm sure. Diesel is more expensive.

Primary school books are supposed to be free from next September I think. Lots of schools do a rental scheme. Secondary cost me about €750 last year (ipad and books) and €200 this year. Uniform (bog standard shirts and trousers, crested jumper and half zip pe top) was €150 ish.

GP care is free to a certain age but I don't know if it's up to 8 yet or not, it is free to 6. We were on a waiting list years ago for a paediatrician and having private health care didnt help. I've never really used mine for anything. There is some rule about health insurance coming from another country so I'd look into that specifically. You decide what level of cover you require so prices vary. There is private patient in a public hospital, semi private and private in private hospitals. If you are a private patient in a public hospital you still might not get a private room if there isn't one available. Private insurance is good for avoiding waiting lists for consultant appointments and scans and stuff like that. There is also the option of not having insurance and just paying private fees yourself if necessary.

I am with Tesco mobile and pay €15 a month for free calls and more data than I ever use. The €15 credit is there too so sometimes I knock another week out of it. My DM has a sim only plan which is all data all texts and all calls for €20ish.

Bank accounts. Permanent TSB have a cashback for every time you use your debit card thing up to €4 and the account is €5 a month or something like that. I pay around €5 a month for my AIB account.

Landline and broadband we're paying €55 for ours but includes a tv package. Lots of different deals out there including some incuding mobile phones and so on.

Bonkers.ie is a price comparison website for electricity, gas and phone lines. I had a poor experience with them lately though.

We have either an Aldi or a Lidl in most towns, plus a Supervalu - Irish chain which are mostly individually owned and can be hit and miss. In larger towns there will probably be a Dunnes Stores or both Aldi and Lidl. Tesco is only in big towns or cities. Marks and Spencer's only in cities except for a random branch in south Tipperary. I used to spend about €120 a week on food and cleaning and toiletries but I buy expensive food. It's about €150 now for 2 adults and a hungry teen. Aldi and SV own brand butter is €3.40 for a lb I think though possibly gone up to €3.60. A big head of broccoli is €1 in Aldi and €1.50 in Supervalu. Nine eco toilet rolls in Aldi is about €2.70 I think. 2kg of rooster potatoes about €2.50. At the top end of supermarket meat - 13.50 for the fancy aged Angus/Hereford fillet steak which I think is a 400g pack or two 7oz steaks. Small free range chicken about €5.50. 1 kg own brand sugar €1- 1.20. I buy a lot of gluten free stuff so I dont know how much a loaf of ordinary bread is. 6 organic apples are €3 in Lidl. 4 for 2.80 in Aldi , 4 for €3 in Supervalu but sometimes on 2 packs for €3 offer. Pack of 4 classic Magnums about €5.50, tub of haagen daz or similar 6.50 ish. You could sign up for online shopping and do a weekly shop and see for yourself.

It can be hard to get a GP or dentist as new patients but if your DHs childhood practices are still there it will be fine I'd say.

If you are below a certain income you can apply for free GP care and free prescriptions, or with higher income free GP. Prescriptions are capped for any household at €80 a month. Chronic illnesses or serious illnesses might qualify for free GP and free medication or other care. Things like physiotherapy or speech and language therapy have waiting lists so most people go privately. Health insurance might cover half the cost. I think most dental care is completely private but there is school dental care though appointments are years behind what they should be.

Thanks so much to you both for replying it's really useful. I think groceries will be more expensive by the sounds of it but not a huge amount probably, the online tesco shop is a good idea I think I'll look at doing that.

Just running through a few other things in my head which we have as monthly outgoings here and I wonder how they might compare are:

Council tax - is there an equivalent? It's for bins and road maintenance here (probably other stuff but don't really see it)

Car insurance for fully comprehensive cover on a SUV car 2018 plate

Car / road tax

TV license

No we don't have council tax but we all pay privately for refuse collection the councils don't do it. I think I pay approx €350 a year

I pay €350 a year for rubbish, recycling and compost. I think the tv licence is 180. Maybe 160. Motor tax depends on carbon emissions. Property tax is a thing and that's the equivalent of council tax and it supposed to fund local authorities. Libraries which are pretty good now because you can borrow any book from the whole country. Property tax is based on the value of the property that you submit yourself but it has to be realistic.

As far as I remember I used a UK reg when getting quotes for insurance a few years ago. Axa, Aviva, 123.ie should get you a few.

lpt.revenue.ie/lpt-web/reckoner/lpt.html.

Thanks so much @Apileofballyhoo I didn't know anything about property tax so that's really helpful. I'll have a look and see if I can find out a bit more about car insurance.

It doesn't actually seem like things would really be much more expensive than what we are used to, we'd probably have less outgoing it's just to see now how much our income would drop and figure it out from there...!

There are not many fee paying schools here, it’s mostly ‘free schools’ but you have to pay for uniforms, lunches, books and stationary.

GP costs €60, prescriptions you have to pay for also (capped at €80)
car insurance is a LOT more than you are used to paying in the uk.
all the rest can cost as much or as little as you like (if you avoid Dublin.)

all the best with the move.

You would be entitled to 140 euro per month per child in Child Allowance and it’s not means tested (not sure if that has been mentioned )

it’s packed lunches so that’s cheaper

kids uniform: inexpensive

school books will be free (currently 70 per child and we contribute to art supplies and school insurance so cannot remember that what is)

Re school lunches: if it's a DEIS school their lunch is provided. It's not a hot meal like UK schools but it's pretty good. You can pick what they get on the catering company's website.

some DEIS schools have hot meals now.

length of school year is quite different . Primary finish up in June and post-primary end of May. Childcare is more expensive because you need more of it. In the infant end of school kids go home at 1.30.