Relocating UK to Galway

[GutsyAzureFawn]

Looking for some information on moving back to Galway from the UK with a young family. I work in IT as a software developer so we were going to start looking at places like Oranmore or Athenry as there seems to be some tech companies that side of the city and want to avoid the Galway traffic.

Would ideally like to sell our home and buy a 4 bed there how is the housing market around those areas? Is it as bad as people are saying to buy a house over there at the moment? Also what is the story with national schools? Is there good schools in those areas? Do national schools have spaces for kids moving into the area?

Any additional areas to consider? Anyone else made this move with family and have any pros and cons?

Thanks

According to my Irish friend living outside Dublin, there are no houses left to buy as they're all allocated to immigrants. <What?!>!

No idea if that is true.

Love Ireland, wouldn't want to live there though. Too insular.

Daft.ie is where you’ll find out what houses are available.
in terms of schools I have no idea of good schools in those areas but I’m sure you could google it.
you will need PPS numbers to start them in school and basically for everything here.

Are you familiar with that area? Its expanded massively and aren't the cute villages they were. Roads are busy everywhere.
Any national school will be fine, the Educate Togethers are popular, uniform free and call the teacher by their first name places. The mainstream Catholic schools are very low religion these days and very diverse.
Its the rain which puts me off the West. Im not going back to the endless sideways rain again.

This is the cheapest, not under offer, 4 bed detached in Oranmore right now. House prices are still rising here, so it will probably go for over asking.

www.daft.ie/for-sale/house-creeslough-garraun-south-oranmore-co-galway/5998207

Yes, thanks for that. We have looked at daft.ie a few times and seen a couple of houses about but the options seem limited. I have heard about the housing crisis from other sites but didn't realise houses were so sparse around Galway.

Yes, have been to visit Oranmore last year. Was there years ago when it was a lot smaller! I was mainly targeting those areas as I thought there would be more job opportunities that side of Galway with less travel time. Also Oranmore comes up a lot as being good for families and we would like to be within a short drive to Salthill for when the weather is not raining sideways 😀

Housing is expensive and in short supply, but if you are coming in with a London house sale behind you, there is always plenty at the higher price points. If you are looking under €500k you will struggle if you want to be close to the city.

If you need a mortgage, you'll need a rental for a year. The banks won't give you one until you are back for a year. And the rental market is even crazier...

I live on the east side of Galway, but closer to town.
If I had known Galway better before we bought, I would have chosen to live in Oranmore, especially with children.
You would also be.on the right side if town for your line of work.

I work on the other side of town in Knocknacarra, but it really is so souless. It is just a massive sprawl with no centre point. It has easy access to Conemara, but you have that from Oranmore as well. In Oranmore you also have quick acess out of town whereas you could add an hour to your journey from the other side on a bad day.

Oranmore is based around a thriving village.
They have Rinville park and shops, pubs, a cinema. There is also a dependable bus every 30 minutes into town.

There are no fee paying primaries in Galway, so there is not really a rank of schools. Things that might differentiate schools are whether they are run by the church (vast vast majority) they are Deis schools (still run by the church, but get additional funding due to the level of income in the area, and are often really good schools because of this) or they are Educate together (same as all the other schools but not run by the church, so no Catholic ethos). The only true alternative in Galway is the Steiner school, which is still under the Department of Education.
From this September all primary school children can have free hot school meals. From last September free school books were introduced. I think in general there is not a huge amount of difference between primary schools.

Primary schools are only allowed to accept applications from the October the year before a child starts. So this October, applications will open for September 2026. This has eliminated the ridiculous situation where people were putting children on waiting lists from birth. If the children are older and not just starting school, the school have to offer a place if they have one available in the class requested.

There is a girl in my DS class who moved with her family from London last year, and they could not be more delighted with the move. The only blip she has was that she had never done Irish and it is compulsory here. She did manage to get an exemption, which is more common now, so although she is present for the lesson, she will never have to do a formal exam in Irish.

I can imagine a family moving to a house like this in Oranmore, on the lovely Maree road, just beside beautiful Rinville, being very happy!
https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/semi-detached-house-23-ceathru-an-tobair-maree-road-oranmore-co-galway/6248623