Possibly moving to Limerick

[justilou1]

Hello lovelies...
We are Aussies who have lived a not so glamorous expat existence in the Netherlands for 8.5 years, have been back in Aus for a year and now my husband is being considered for a job in Limerick. The job sounds good, and as his job here didn't work out, the choice to stay or go may be out of our hands. I honestly don't know where to start researching our lifestyle there so I can look at budgeting, schools, etc... We have three kids - two in primary school, one in high school. We have a dog the size of a pony so we need a bit of space. (She's a couch potato, and we currently live inner-city - so access to a park, etc is fine.). The job would be at the university there, but we are not afraid of driving if it means a better lifestyle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. x

www.boards.ie/b/thread/2056683045

This forum/thread (all three pages) might be interesting to you.

Relatives of mine used to live on O'Connell Avenue. It was a bit run down in the 70s but nicer now. Limerick has its share of estates in bad shape, and used to be called 'Stab City', maybe still is, but the nice areas far outnumber the dodgy ones. The university and active arts and tech sectors give it a nice vibe. There are solid employers including Shannon Airport.

A cousin of mine lives in Ennis in Co. Clare, which is nice, as is Killaloe, which is a bit further from Shannon Airport. It's all very driveable.

For secondary school, Crescent College Comprehensive in Dooradoyle (a Jesuit-run co-ed state school; Irish education has many quirks) is excellent. It is non-fee paying. There are excellent extra curricular opportunities - sports, drama, music, participation in public service projects. The school has a long history (several hundred years, in different locations and changing circumstances) and a good community feeling.

What kind of lifestyle do you enjoy? Being near restaurants or shops or being in the countryside?

Hi Math & Slane - Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my rather vague query. I am open to living in a village or in the city itself. (I would prefer either of those to living in the suburbs, for some reason.) I'm not afraid of driving, but think I'm going to have to look at the high schools first and live fairly locally to that. (The two littler ones won't be at primary school for as long as they would here, it would seem!). I'm going to research the likelihood of me being able to work while I'm there. (I'm a singer, so can sing at weddings, etc.... if necessary.).

Hi,

Rollercoaster.ie is an Irish parenting site that might be useful, nothing as busy as mumsnet though.

Also check out schooldays.ie for information on schools in each area. It will give you contact details and you can start emailing. The school year starts in Sept.

DAFT.ie will give you an idea of housing and rental prices.
Car insurance can be v expensive especially if you both need to drive and have not driven in Ireland before, so keep that in mind when deciding between country/city living.

Rugby is big in Limerick, but I think you know that I saw your other thread.

Good Luck with the singing, a friend of mine is a wedding singer, she also supplements her income singing at funerals, might not be your thing, but we do love a good funeral in Ireland, so business is steady

Good Luck!

There isn't much city centre family living in Limerick To my knowledge. Look at Adare, it's a lovely village very close to limerick and it is "wedding central"!! Killaloe also lovely but I wouldn't know it as well. Castletroy near to university is worth googling too.

The whole city is about 200,000 people, so suburbia isn't really a sprawl.

Thank you for all of this information - you people are lovely!!!
I do sing at funerals, so that will also add ups I guess. Oddly enough, had to sing Danny Boy at the last funeral. I will check out the websites when the kids aren't hovering. (We haven't told them yet - no point stressing them out until we know more. They're currently obsessed with the Skulduggery Pleasant books which are set in Ireland, so that's hopeful, I think!)