West coast of Ireland

[serin]

Hello,
Would anyone have any experience of living in County Kerry, (Listowel), or Galway or Clare.
We are going to relocate and are investigating these areas. Husband is a Science Teacher and I'm an Occupational Therapist but neither of us has a job lined up.
We have 3 kids, primary school ages, so any info re schooling would be most welcome.
Thanks

Hi Serin,

I spent 3 months living in a village in County Galway last year. It didnt work out for me and DH, we left as I couldnt see how we would ever settle there and be happy! I think it would have worked out for us if we had school age children, if our jobs were more sociable, if we had family in the area, if we were into going to church....all those reasons seemed to contribute to our lack of success with the move! We are now living near DH's family, and are very settled. My advice is, if possible get yourselves off to a good start by making the move in the summer- we didnt, and 3 months of rain and grey skies didnt help settling in. Start off living in a town- if you want to move out to a rural area, give yourselves a chance to build up a few friendships first. If you have a friends/rellies in any area then head there, as we found that sadly people were not very friendly, not in the way I have experienced in other countries where everyone has been the newcomer at some point- in the rural parts of the West of Ireland it did seem to me that there isnt much flow of people in/out so people are very busy with there own clans and dont make much effort. It is lovely in all of those places, so I dont want to be put you off. I found it a very different experience to living in rural england, where there are new people coming and going and the population density means you cant swing a cat without coming across various neighbouring villages/towns. Prior to our move we had been looking at houses to buy- in the end we rented and we were so incredibly glad later that we hadnt committed ourselves to that extent, especially as prices are now dropping. My last piece of advice is, if you are thinking of rural/village life- maybe live somewhere near, a shortish drive from, a big town/city like Galway city itself, a town that you actually like thhe look of, so if you do need to cheer yourself up with some urban life it wont be a 3 hour round trip...
I did meet a few other emigrant Brits there, and they were all incredibly friendly and lovely. Although Im not sure that really helped, as being reassured with the words 'dont worry, i cried every morning for the first 2 years' didnt actually reassure me! It did freak me out a bit that they seemed to be clinging to each other and didnt really seem to have managed to make friends with non brits. But they were all happy with their lives, and all said that they now wouldnt go to live anywhere else.
The only thought I have on schooling is that Irish schools are very good, much less violent than in England, I wouldnt really worry about that too much. Irish language is compulsory teaching in state schools. And the summer holidays are 3 months long!
Oh and one last thing.....dont live somewhere too touristy, ask around if you are checking places out in the summer...'will this pub/restaurant be open in the winter'.
Hope this helps, sorry if its negative, its a great move for los of people, it just wasnt for us!

I live up north so I'm not sure if I can really give you any relevent advice, but obviously with such a big commitment you would both need to have a job/s as the cost of living can be high. The west of Ireland is one of my favourite holiday destinations and I'm sure the locals will give back what you put in to the community. The education is of a really high standard and the housing is very good. There is still an oldy world feel about parts of Ireland especially the west but at the same time you are never that far from one of the bigger towns/ cities. Would either of you have relatives/friends in Ireland - that always helps. Good luck whatever you decide.

Thanks for your replies, We have lots of relatives in Dublin and Cork but it is the West Coast that appeals (love Sunsets!!and fresh air!!). I was born in Ireland to Irish parents who moved to the middle of Manchester to give us kids a better start in life!!!!
I hope you are more settled now Daydreambeliever, that is slightly unnerving, but I would hope that with kids in primary school and a keeness to get involved with the local Church we may be able to make some friends.Its a really strange thing but I have an Aunt who lives in a very isolated spot in rural Ireland who was all excited when an English couple moved into a newly built house close to her, they were from London and had two tiny children and bless her she thought she was going to be their best friend. Offerred to babysit and was always popping round for a cup of tea, she probably drove them mad, anyway they were far more reserved and wanted to keep themselves to themselves and she was so disappointed!!
Its more finding employment and coping with the logistics of moving that worries me, not to mention how DD will cope without her best friend.

Serin, where did your dh qualify as a teacher? If he trained in the UK have you checked that he can work in Ireland? Usually teachers in Ireland have to pass an Irish language exam before they are qualified to teach.

Other than that I think which county you choose depends on whether you want to be very rural or not. Kerry is very remote and it takes a long time to get around there as most of the roads are tiny and it's quite mountainous. I think Clare is pretty rural too, although I don't know it well at all, but Galway would probably be a bit densely populated and it does have a decent sized city. I imagine that house prices would be a bit higher there though. (Have you checked out prices in your preferred location? Most of Ireland is now scarily expensive.)

Hi Bran
DH qualified in the UK only this year so he is an NQT!I know it would be better if he was more experienced!! We have been told that you only need to be able to use the Irish language if you teach in a primary school, for secondary school it is not as important?. He has other Biochem qualifications that he could fall back on if finding a job as a teacher isn't possible. The other option is that I could look for full time work, since the NHS cutbacks the career prospects for me are probably much better in Ireland than here.
House price wise we should be okay, we are only looking at older bungalows nothing grand! but we havn't the foggiest about moving pensions, health insurance, buying property, selling this property, Irish income tax etc etc etc,
In fact we might just stay here LOL....in fact if it wasn't for the little horrors who make playing outside so difficult for our kids and the fact that our local council has just approved a huge incinerater which will do asthmatic DS2 a lot of good then we really might stay!

Daydreambeliever is clearly very astute. The description of the rural West of Ireland is spot on.

We moved from London to Galway this year with our two small kids. My partner would go back to London tomorrow if he could.

I feel more relaxed here, however, but that's partly because I enjoy my new job. Our ds (3.5) is starting pre-school tomorrow, and he definitely has far more freedom here to run around and make mischief than he did in London.

I dunno. . . there are advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately for my partner, who is a SAHF, the disadvantages are outweighing the advantages at the moment. And it's true, the Brits I've met have said it takes 2 years to feel settled. That's a long time to ask someone to stay when they are unahppy . . .

I hear the current cryptosporidium contamination of tap water In Glaway is just lovely, and has been for the last 4 months

Thanks for all your advice/comments.

Puddlejumper, Good luck for tomorrow! hope DS has a lovely time.

Kerrymum, Oh you angel! Thanks for replying,
Please tell me that you are the directer of education and that you need a science teacher asap!! We are both a bit worried about finding work but are prepared to do anything really, doesn't have to be what we trained in. We are also a bit concerned about whether the kids would fit in at school, our daughter has been badly bullied in the past even though she is naturally very gregarious, just because her teeth stick out a bit. (oh, that reminds me do you pay for childrens dental care?? could run to millions!)
Also what facilities are there for families?
Last time we went to Cork a rel recommended a nice "child friendly" restraunt. When we got there, still in our wellies and cagoules, it turned out to be a very posh hotel!!! full of buisness men in suits!! but they never batted an eyelid and were sweetness itself to the kids. I mean in terms of leisure centres, swimming pools and dance classes? Also would you let a 10 year old out on her bike?
Finally a lot of property advertised on the internet sites propertynews.com etc states "price from" would you know what that means? are they all auctioned or does it mean that you could buy it at "buiders finish".
Finally if this all works out please come round for a coffee, will use bottled water!

Thanx Kerrymum,

Really useful info re; schools and hospitals, I'm just about to search online for them.

Kids are 10, 6 and 5, hadn't thought about single sex schools! they would probably love that!

A worry about the orthodontics, but kind of expected problems.

Do you like living in Kerry? and did you have any problems fitting in when you first moved?

Hello Serin, just had another look at this thread and thought Id add the following....you can get house prices on www.myhome.ie. Health insurance is not mandatory....You pay for GP visits and cost price for medications. Hopsital treatment is free but theres a long waiting list for some things. I had my baby on the public system ie free, and the care was excellent same as NHS really. We arranged health insurance on arrival but you cant claim for maternity stuff for 1 year, ( Hmm, not stupid those insurance guys, obviously heard us muttering about fiddling the dates from a long way off). If you sell your UK property after youve settled in Ireland, you have to sell it within 3 years of arrival, or pay capital gains tax.
Your post made me wonder if I wished we'd stuck it out. Too late now. Mainly wish we'd stayed cos of house prices!! But yes, thanks, Im very settled now, except for issues re house prices!!