Can someone please tell me about the Republic of Ireland

[amillionyears]

Dont want to say too many personal details.
If someone was offered a 3 year job there,is it wise to take it bearing in mind the financial climate. Also,I am confused about which healthcare is free and which is not.
And is there anything else to consider.The person offering the job said to think carefully before accepting.
I tried looking in search as I thought this topic may have been discussed fairly recently,but I cant see where.Thanks.

I had a DS in The Coombe. It was all private and yet I didnt get anything like as good care as i did for 2 DC's in the UK on the NHS. It was a miserable experience.

I did love Ireland though and spent 13 happy years there. I believe my DC's had the best of both worlds. Great primary education in Ireland where the basics are really concentrated on. DD was doing maths in Year 9 here that she had done in Primary in Ireland. However when it comes to Secondary Education I think the UK system is better. There is more variety in the subjects studied.

OP, go and enjoy it. I went for 6 months and stayed 13 years!

Go to the Rotunda or Mount Carmel next time

Go to Mt Carmel if you have 6k to spend on something you can get for free elsewhere.

Mount Carmel do recession deals now. You can get a package for 2.5k. I heard it was lovely, like being in a hotel!

I spent several wks in hospital with my first, it's definately worth spending the money in that situation as you literally would get no sleep in a 6 bedded bay. Even in my room the banging and crashing, and agonised groans could be heard 24/7. I had to stay in a bay the night before my dd3 was born and I slept for two hours, I then had to give birth! I fell asleep during labour after my epidural kicked in. The one time you want a good nights sleep is the day you give birth! I would be very nervous as I have a pretty bad history as far as pregnancy is concerned so for me I only wanted a doctor to look after me and it was well worth the money for that alone!

My dd1 was severely growth restricted in utero, if I was scanned at 20 wks in the public clinic this would have been missed because she had already fallen behind by 3 wks at that stage, the concern was that the placenta would fail completely. My dr said if he hadn't already seen me he would have said my dates were wrong. That is what scares me about going public, the first scan is often so late. The other thing is that many hospitals don't do the anomaly scan due to funding issues. Problems were picked up on this with dd1 also that would have been missed and only discovered when she became ill.

I think if earlier scanning and anomaly scans were standard as they are in the UK less people would go private. You are paying for peace of mind.

2.5k wouldn't cover more than 2 nights in mt carmel, several weeks would land you a huge bill.

In my last 2 pregnancies I got a scan between 17-20 weeks, so has everyone I know of. And any more as were medically necessary (6 on my last) all on public. But you can go public and pay for as many private scans as you like.

2.5k wouldn't cover more than 2 nights in mt carmel, several weeks would land you a huge bill.

In my last 2 pregnancies I got a scan between 17-20 weeks, so has everyone I know of. And any more as were medically necessary (6 on my last) all on public. But you can go public and pay for as many private scans as you like.

I'm not quite sure how it works with complications and Mount Carmel. I didn't pay anymore when I was in for a lengthy period in UCG, the room rates there were 750 a night and you are normally only covered for 3. The charges were over 25,000 euro to the insurance company.
17-20 wks is late as a standard for scans. Dating scans at 12 wks are standard in the UK on the NHS. Anything beyond that is not going to be accurate and in my case those few wks made a big difference. In your first pregnancy in particular you don't know if you are going to have issues until they happen. You can pay for them but you shouldn't have to pay for the basics.

You don't pay for the basics, thats my point. You get whatever you medically need on the public scheme. If you need a weekly scan, you'll get one. If you need a dating scan you'll get one (most people don't need one, they know their dates). If there is evidence of restricted growth (which shows with a simple fundal height measurement), you'll get all the investigations necessary.

I feel like I have to be the case for the defence here, because for all the problems we have here, and we do, misinformation is unfair and should be pointed out.

You do have to Pay for the basics if your first scan isn't until 17-20 wks. The nuchal/dating scan is standard practice for all nhs pts yet you don't get it here unless you pay in most cases.
The anomaly scan is another very important one that often is not given here due to hospitals being under such pressure. Fine you will get one if you have a history of babies with congenital abnormalities, but these things can occur randomly you cannot always pinpoint who this will happen to.
I didn't know in my first pregnancy how important it was that a record of dates from an earlier scan was to diagnosing my baby's growth restriction. My doctor told me that he would have insisted my dates were wrong as she was symetrically small, usually these babies have bigger heads and smaller bodies. Knowing your dates ofcourse is important but if you have an irregular cycle it is not always easy to pinpoint when conception occured.
Fundal heights measurement is less reliable, the lie of the baby and height and build of the mother can give inaccurate results. I never measured small on that, all of the midwives on the ward said the baby wasn't as small as the consultant was saying from their examinations and yet my baby was 4lb 12oz at nearly 38wks.

nuchal scans are not routine - and, in some hospitals really not encouraged - presumably because the potential consequences (e.g. that some one might terminate a pregnancy because of abnormalities) are contrary to the Catholic ethos of many maternity hospitals, and also not legal in this state. We had one, we got bad odds, everything was fine in the end, but I did feel that everything was discussed in very oblique terms - I found this quite upsetting at the time. However, as DP pointed out, there are many many Irish people who would be deeply upset and offended at any discussion of termination. She made a very good point, I thought.

the 17-20 week one IS the anomaly scan. Everyone gets that. And why would a country give nuchal scans as standard when they don't provide any options for termination of pregnancy?

If you went private you have no idea what would have happened if you had gone public. In my experience of the public system, you get of the intervention and monitoring you need, nothing is spared due to costs, if it is actually needed.

My doctor told me that he would have insisted my dates were wrong your doctor sounds like an idiot. And how much did he cost?

also Blazer practices vary widely - Holles St only gave one scan; SIL had 3 at the Coombe; we had 4 (one of them was double booked because of dd2's high odds on nuchal) at the Rotunda.

We also had an 8 week scan with both because of earlier m/c, but that was our choice and only for peace of mind. It wasn't medically necessary - just helpful for us in our situation to know what we did (or didn't, happily) need to do next

also, of all the things there are to worry about in Ireland, maternity services would not be at the top of the list. Yes, they are overstretched and under-resourced, but in my experience they do a very good job

yes, I agree. Just a bit narked with all the anti's. A friend delivered last week at 29 weeks, and has had the most amazing care at all 3 of the hospitals her and her son have been at. Couldn't have been beaten.

that experience is the one I have heard from every single family I know that has been unlucky enough to need that support

The 17-20 wk scan is not always the detailed physiological scan, it depends on your hospital as to whether you are given that or just a routine scan. I agree that the situation re termination in ireland probably is the reason for nuchal scans not being given, that and funding. They can at least indicate that a pregnancy may need to be more closely monitored as if the baby is found to be high risk as they may have other physiological problems too if there is a problem.
I had an amniocentesis with dd1 because it was thought there may be issues, obviously we would not have been given any options if the worst was confirmed so you could say what was the point in being given it then.

We would have done anything but continue even if there was a choice to make. It was hugely traumatic but I just needed to know and be prepared if the worst was confirmed, i think many other parents would feel that way too. We also needed to rule this out as a cause.

My consultant would have assumed my dates were wrong as I have PCOS and therefore a very long cycle. Itis also more unusual for IUGR to occurred such an early stage. Also her appearance was not standard for IUGR. It was money well paid. She could have potentially stopped growing at any time.
I know when my first appt would have been, yes when the PE set in I would have been cared for well but the babies problems would have been missed.
I know lots of people who have gone public and been very happy with their care and some who have gone private and not been happy. If you are low risk then great but you don't always know and if you are only being scanned perhaps once things can be missed.
I am not anti Ireland, far from it if you read my earlier posts. Just aware of how stretched the HSE is as an employee of it.

Sorry would not have done anything but continue

I just came across this post too by accident and i am surpirsed to see such a lot of negatives. A lot of Uk residents moved over during the so called boom years and enjoyed the extra benifits that was available in Ireland. In saying that i agree about a lot of the things you have all said, i am Irish 100 per cent . Times are really tough there at the moment, its all cuts and tax hikes. Its much worse to middle class as that is wheher they are able to take the money from. Nobody mentioned the weather, its the worst in the world, it would be a lovely country if we could only put and umbrella over it.
I have lived i quite a few countries and i feel people are by far the nicest in the world, bar being a tad begruding;;

Malahide schools
Hi I'm looking for advice about moving from the uk to malahide with 3 children -boys age 9,7 and a girl 2. I ve read a few posts about schools but they re a few years old now so I'm just looking for up to date information on what the primary and secondary schools are like in malahide and generally is it somewhere you would recommend moving to with young children. Thanks so much for any advice the prospect of such a big move is very daunting 😬

I would start a specific thread in Chat. Most Irish people won't frequent this board as they won't consider themselves as an expat location if that makes sense?

Malahide is a lovely suburb of Dublin. Very nice middle class area with good schools and a nice beach. Easy commute into central Dublin and on the right side of town for the airport.

One thing to consider is that independent schools in Ireland are funded by the govt and so are stonkingly cheaper than the UK. You may find that it is affordable as a result so worth looking at Sutton and other local indie schools for secondary level.

After teaching in London for twenty years I moved back to ROI. I loved London so was obviously anxious. It was the right move, schools here are far better, teachers are treated with respect and have far more autonomy, it is as multi cultural and 'global' as London. The teaching I have seen is superior here, IMO.

Lifestyle is far more relaxed, little commute, no queues for anything, beautiful accessible countryside and coast. No NHS which is a shame but all psychiatric medical costs are free. Little class system, fantastic welfare system, four times that of UK. I get better pay, holidays and conditions. Property id FAR cheaper and if you live on the East coast, Dublin is accessible and culturally interesting. There is no equivalent of London here but its only an hour away. People are friendlier. Only disadvantage for me is the attitudes towards women health around abortion.