Thinking of moving to Ireland... advice appreciated

[congobongo]

What towns/cities are considered attractive? Their equivalents to say York? Is property good value over there?

Galway has some skinny pedestrian cobbled streets though.

The whole covid lockdown thing has made me think about moving somewhere further out of dublin, with good internet, more spacious, a view of a river or something. all i do is go for walks, my shopping is delivered, I do work, i could work from home, I am a single parent without a network of close friends I see regularly. I could live anywhere, i'd be living the same life. So I'm waiting for somebody to suggest the perfect town to live in. I'd have to be able to get to Dublin on ONE bus or coach though, that's my only non negotiable. No changing at new ross and then changing again at rosslare or any exhausting nonsense like that!

Why not just move to York if you like it?

DD did her PhD in Galway. She rented a fabulous apartment with views out over Galway Bay. Rents are expensive and property in the City is too but not as high as Dublin. However what made it for her were the amazing people she met. We absolutely love ROI and would buy a property there but for me it’s too cold and wet! I agree with others in that you should spend time there before rushing into moving.

Yes the west of ireland has worse weather than the east but the east is more expensive.

I hope that the perfect location will occur to me. I want to go on a train trip at some point and stay a night in gorey, waterford, cobh, midleton, kinsale... all places i like the sound of. See if they are really "liveable".