Moving to the Republic of Ireland - west

[Scoobywho24]

Has anyone from England moved to the west of Ireland and how have they found it?

I have familial connections and know it well but my partner does not and is worried about a few things. Firstly our children starting a new school there and making such a huge change to their lives. Wondering about anti- Britishness specifically in the west. Been there, got the abuse and the T-shirt. But I’m wondering how common it really is. Obviously I want to move our family to have a better community life so it’s worrying.

thanks!

Surely if you know it well, you know the answers to these questions? I moved my English born DS to Ireland aged seven, just before Covid. Of course it was a huge adjustment and he’s still nostalgic for his English village and school years on when something is bothering him here. Absolutely you will encounter some anti-British remarks from a minority of people. I got them as an Irishwoman throughout my years in the UK, again from a small minority. It wasn’t pleasant, but I lived with them, though I won’t lie — it contributed to my decision to leave the UK when microaggressions ramped up around Brexit. A lot of English friends have moved to Ireland in the last few years, and are settling well, though not entirely without issues.

No one will settle anywhere abroad without some issues, though. The problem with English people moving to Ireland is often that they’re expecting it to be the same as home because of a shared language and geographical proximity, when in fact they’re in some ways very different cultures. A lot will depend on your own flexibility.

@Shirtdress thanks for your reply. I have Irish parents and went to school for a short time there in secondary school before moving back to the uk. I did witness the abuse my parents got at times during the 80s and 90s so I’ve known it all too well from both sides and has always swayed my choice about moving there but I have always longed to.

my issue is that I have experienced abuse before but that’s been mostly when I’ve been out in pubs and alcohol is involved. I suppose it’s a worry for my partner more as he would be setting up a business there and wonders how serious it really can be. Like I say, my experience has always been on a holiday kind of basis and not real life. I have never worked or gotten to know anyone outside family. Life is short and all that jazz, so I’m considering it now

My strongest advice would be to get your children into the GAA as soon as possible. It is such a great leveler, and the ultimate integration pathway. What ages are they, and are they sociable?

There are lots of English accents in Ireland, it's not at all unusual. And lots have Irish relations like your family. Most people will be welcoming.

What age are the children?

Lots of threads on this in craicnet.
consensus seems to be it can be hard for ‘second gen’ Irish, who grew up in U.K. as ‘Irish’ with all the trappings and traditions around it, are seen by the populace as ‘English’ when they move to Ireland by virtue of birthplace and accent. I think it’s harder than for those of us who lived in the U.K. and moved home. What are you hoping for with the move - schooling/family/cultural link?

@Scoobywho24 Have you moved? How have found it! I’m in London 12 years and planning on moving back with a 5&7 yo!

@shellbells12 no we haven’t. Still something I think about ALOT! I just got back from spending the summer there and feel a bit meh. It would be selfish on my part to move us there, not sure I could put that on my family 💔

Completely understand; it’s such a big decision! Any idea as to why you feel meh about it? I’m torn, feels like I’ve a lot of security in London, and not guaranteed anything back in Ireland 🫣

Don't give up security for a pipe dream.

Rural Ireland is still small minded and mysogynistic, where people can't mind their own business.

I think English Banter can often be interpreted as superiority which needs to be slapped down.

If you are not returning to a pre existing, known, community and family network, then I wonder why you would make the move.

Thanks a lot! I'm in rural lreland and don't consider myself small-minded, misogynistic or a busybody @CreationNat1on.

There is a superiority complex that certain English people have, though I'm sure that most don't. I've seen posters say that the minute they moved to England they were considered working class simply because they were Irish. Also you should read some of the MN threads with people 'shuddering' and 'cringing' at constructions that are perfectly normal here, words like gotten or the letter haitch, for example.

So some 'banter' may have an edge?

I would say it will make a difference where you are moving to in the West of Ireland. You've got at least two university cities, a number of major multinational companies and a huge number of international visitors. I'd say it makes a difference whether you move to, say, Cork city, than moving somewhere very rural.

Hi OP English people are not liked in Ireland.

Even if you have Irish parents, if you were born in England and have an English accent, you are seen as English in Ireland.

I lived through it. My irish parents moved back to Ireland from England.

I received constant abuse. Every single week.
As a child, and as a teenager.

It's a very miserable life.

I remember people saying to me all the time "the English are bastards, they colonised us for 800 years".

I had that said to me since I was a young child. I remember saying "I didn't kill anyone'

And I would say that my parents were irish. But they didn't care

I wasn't happy until I moved out of ireland in my twenties.

Then I realised that I wasn't this horrible person.l that they kept telling me I was. I'm a lovely kind person. I moved back when I was older for a bit to help family, and I got the same abuse again. I left ireland again

There is huge anti- English sentiment in ireland.

And yet I have numerous English friends who have lived in rural Ireland for decades, are thoroughly integrated and love it.

You are aware that there is anti English sentiment in ireland though yes?

Irish people talk about their hatred of English people all the time.

The last time I was in Dublin, I went to two different comedy shows. There were English people in the audience.

Both irish comedians immediately told the English people in the audience that they were personally responsible for the Irish famine.

Where did you live @Pearlgemspark that is horrific! Huge anti English settle where you live, but not here!
Where I live, there's a big proportion of English immigrants, mostly retired people, some young families with wfm careers and many hippies who've established local business, stalls at markets, etc.
My own parents are English born, I'm not.
There is no such anti English sentiment here, I don't even know what that would look like. How does it affect you?
Although I am the opposite end of the country to Northern Ireland so maybe that is why.
My children play many sports and go to school with children who had English accents (the accent doesn't last long with children) . And have never heard of any name calling or anything like that.

I think one of humanity's greatest failings is seeing that everyone born on a patch of land, is responsible for what other people on the patch of land does.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

I remember saying to people in Ireland , when they said that "the English are bastards"

I said "So innocent English children are responsible for what their ancestors did"?

And the same the other way. Irish people in our parents generation in England used to get a lot of abuse for what the IRA did.

Just because they're born in Ireland means they're responsible for what the IRA did.?

Blind hatred hurts everyone and helps no one

I'm sorry but how can you speak for a whole area of ireland, just because you haven't seen it?

Have you asked every English person in that area what they have gone through?

It would be like me saying

"There is no racism at all in Dublin, because I haven't seen any".

OK, you sound a bit obsessed.

I get that it is difficult moving countries as a child, but I think you've been unfortunate. My English-born son (Irish parents, born in London, lived in the Midlands till the age of 8, arrived in Ireland with a cut-glass English accent and absolutely still insists on his Englishness in many contexts) has had no issues integrating at all.

Absolutely there is anti-English sentiment in a minority of people in Ireland, just as there's anti-Irish sentiment in a minority of people in England, where I spent almost 30 years. But I don't sit about lashing out at an entire country on the basis that I got a series of unpleasant comments from a minority of people over the years, including some deeply unpleasant situations, like having my accent imitated throughout an official ceremony, or being repeatedly asked if I was in the IRA. That's not on England, it's on a small minority of racists (there seemed considerable overlap between people who made anti-Irish comments and people who made anti-Asian comments where I lived last).

The comedians were presumably making a joke of the idea that a random English person in the audience of a stand-up show were in any way responsible for a Famine 180 years ago in another country.

I

Believe me Irish people do NOT talk about their hatred of English people all the time, that is 100% untrue and a huge assumption on your part just because you had a hard time

Why so defensive?

OP literally asked people if there was anti English sentiment in Ireland.

She wanted to hear about people's experiences.

I replied to her. Not you.

What you are saying is not the truth in any way, and you know it.

We moved from East Sussex to Mayo in 1999. Both DH and I are English (I first visited this area in 1976, and just kept coming back). We think the move is the best thing we've ever done - we're still blowins, but local blowins now, if you see what I mean. In 25 years we've experienced overt anti-English sentiment once (well, DH did, I didn't). I'm not saying it doesn't exist here, I'm just recounting my personal experience.

I think one of humanity's greatest failings is seeing that everyone born on a patch of land, is responsible for what other people on the patch of land does.

And yet you're doing exactly that by claiming English people are not liked in Ireland

Which I simply don't think is generally true.

I have more English friends than I can count living here. Some are here since the 1970s, in the depths of rural Ireland, some far more recently. Some with various wobbles in the settling-in process, some not. The only friend who has considered seriously leaving again says she's aware it's partly her own stuff getting in the way. Interestingly, the only people I know who've moved to Ireland and left again within a year or two are returnees like me who had been gone a long time and couldn't cope with the difference between their memories and the different Ireland they'd returned to. I do get it - it's not easy coming back, even as an Irish person who grew up here.

No, you replied to my post of 12.20.