Moving to Ireland

General Discussion
1

Hi


I was going to initially ask for peoples thoughts on living in Ireland and then worried that I might just receive negatives however I was in Clare a few months ago and was overwhelmed with the frienliness of the people, the beautiful landscape, the gorgeous food and the wonderful art culture. I felt so safe there and at home and am looking forward to going back. Everyone told me the weather was awful, the sun rarely shone..................that was not the case as it was beautiful, mild and sunny and with just one day with some very heavy rain in the afternoon which came and went. For someone like me who loves the sun I wondered how I might cope living somewhere that apparently never has any but now I'm really looking forward to it and a climate less cold perhaps than here in the winter. I'm aware that I cannot put a new build up for two years on land so am going to buy a house and renovate it and hope to develop my art but also to join groups and hopefully learn new skills along the way. My son is going tag along and will do mountain bike guiding along with his custom build bikes and selling of bike wear. We have spoken to the tourist boards there and they have been very helpful and positive. I know Ireland has been through a bad time and employment is a problem but I think now is a good time to buy and start my next adventure. Any advice, hints tips will be warmly received.

2

i at the tender age of 33 worked well i wont say worked but a passion for fishin g g

3

Hi Daniel

I was actually looking (on the net) at properties in Killarney and will try the auctioneers, thank you. I'm still in France obviously and haven't sold my property as yet. I decided to give myself a break from the stress of selling but in my heart of hearts dont want to stay here. Had a visit to ireland a couple of months ago and went to Galway, gorgeous. The weather was incredible, so hot even for me and everyone I spoke to in art galleries, shops were friendly, helpful. The food on offer was amazing. Strangely even my friend rages against the English for past 'misdemeanors' but I let it go over my head and I still feel more comfortable there than I do here.

4

hi you should try and visit killarney it has probably the most amazing scenery in ireland not being biased as i am originally from there but it does it has lakes mountains free walks and national park a large enough town to shop in and meet new friends well worth a look aswell on the house market try hennigan auctioneers

5

Thanks Elaine i will do some more research.

6

What a wonderful positive experience. Similar to what I had in France before I moved here. It does make a difference being foreign though. Very often niceness and politeness can be skin deep, but so what?

I understand what you mean about social connection, evenings esp here in rural SW are quiet. In Ireland this is not so. We do not have shutters!!

On pellets, they became all the fad for a while, until the pellets ran out!!

But now, there are many suppliers, of stoves and pellets.

Definitely worth researching as an alternative to oil or gas. You could do a lot of research online, esp on YouTube. Expensive outlay, but anyone I know who uses one, swear by them. Also research grants and assistance if installing to replace an old system.

Keep asking the questions!!
Btw, it’s very common for Irish to have English family, even brothers and sisters. Half of my family on both sides are English, cousins, aunts, nieces, uncles etc. I think this interaction and integration is more important than old wars and bitterness :slight_smile:

7

Speaking to my friend John in Ireland he has told me that he has never come across derogative remarks aimed at the English and is married to an English lady. When I was there I found everyone really charming, helpful, friendly and open and in fact was blown away by the warmth of the people. I spent ages one day talking with a Polish girl who worked on a beauty counter in a pharmacy and she was lovely and we spoke of our experiences of being ex-pats in different countries. Going out and about I spoke to more people in that day than I do here in France in a year. Sadly there will always be conflict and bad feelings here and there and we sometimes forget that as Brits we often have very strong feelings and thoughts about immigration into our own country. I've been told many times that the French dont want us here and told that I am an immigrant, a woman and too old and I should leave France. However aside from those issues which I'd like to leave aside one question I do have and that is regarding heating homes. Does anyone have thoughts on using burners that take pellets as opposed to wood? By the way the food in Ireland was wonderful and I mean truely wonderful and the service second to none. Dunnes the food and home store were so wonderfully friendly and when admiring their wares and displays said if I wanted to take photographs it was no problem. Amazing people and nothing too much trouble.

8

Oh dear, let’s not get into a bitching session.
I take no offence from Dominique’s remarks. She has obviously had a bad experience. I am 100% reared and bred Irish! and have never once heard a derogative remark about the English in my circles. But then I can choose my friends. I am saddened that it still goes on, we really need to grow up about this, both sides of the Irish Sea.

I met a French woman recently who spent many many years in Nigeria. I’ve travelled through Nigeria and will NEVER go back. She on the other hand had 100% positive experience (for many years) and looks forward to going back someday. Just completely different experiences.
I am certain Suzanne will make her own judgements and do her own research.

Dominique, I am saddened you had such a negative experience, and that it has created such a paradigm shift for you. It’s definitely one of the greater lessons in life, a negative experience.

9

This is my last post on the subject.

You are right, I am bitter, I feel I have been conned by the most charming people on earth and i did love them until I understood better how things worked.

I was just trying to balance the rosy view to give Suzanne another opinion. In fact I was warned by English colleagues when I accepted the job and thought it was their colonial self speaking, them looking down their noses... How wrong I was, this said it was a wonderful experience and I lost nothing except the chunk of me that was trusting people.

10

Too bad Ireland didn't turn out as you would have liked, Dominique, but there's no need to take it personally on the people there.
There obviously was a REASON you weren't welcomed with open arms. Are you perhaps the type that looks down their nose at us, and thinks of Irish people as somehow being slaves to the British??
Bitterness is what I'm tasting here.

11

I take back everything I have said I did not mean to say that the Irish are bad, just that I found them bad, a totally personal opinion.

Ireland is lovely, the Irish are lovely and it never rains.

And Yes, I would say anything I think about anybody country or life style, preferably to their face.

12

I'm taking on board all that people say and of course am never one hundred per cent sure of it being the right move as indeed France didn't turn out to be however everyone has a different story to tell and a different view and all them I read with respect. I honestly wnated to go back to Uk for so long but then everyone and I mean everyone kept telling me not to, weahter, no jobs, housing, cost of living through the roof etc etc so then I began to question the viabilty of life back in the UK. My son will be starting his mountain bike business (just getting it off the ground now) and build custom made bikes of which he has already done for himself and he will also do guiding and sells now for Endura bicycle clothing. I feel I could supplement that with lunches and meals and hopefully accomodation whilst carrying on with my own pastimes/business ventures in selling and art and crafts etc Perhaps having lived in france and experienced the lack of enthusiasm, entreprenuerism, the raciscm which does exist here too, has made me feel more equipped in dealing with another country move. I'm never going to be a miilionaire nor do I want to be but quality of life is important and social life even more so and both of those things are very sadly lacking here. My friend who lives in Clare is Irish and hopefully will guide me through some of the highs and lows fo life in Ireland. I know things can be more expensive there but again feel prepared for that but I certainly noticed the quality was there alongside of cost. Please keep your views coming I will take all on board and if nothing else at least I am in contact with people so thank you all for taking the time to write and reply.

13

Dominique, I think your comments are rude and not within the SFN Netiquette guidelines. This is the Irish group - would you go to dinner in a friend's house where anothe guest is say, Dutch or Spanish, and say the equivalent about their country? I suggest you either remove the comment or tone it down. More information on Netiquette can be found here: http://www.survivefrance.com/page/sfn-netiquette

14

Sorry, I did not think that the Irish were a 'Race' and I certainly would not bunch all Celts together if we have to talk ethnicity, I confess to a certain xenophobia towards them which I did not feel before I lived there.

15

Dominique, given the racist tone of your rant I'm surprised at your generalisation about Irish racial attitudes. !

16

Jeeeesus Girl, Think several times about moving to Ireland.

Emerald Isle indeed, guess why...

I have spent quite a bit of time working in Ireland, a fantastic job it was that I got, this, because I was English trained but not English. As soon as they had an Irish person trained to the same level they did not sack me, this is not the Irish way, but they made my life an absolute misery so I quit.

My husband was coming with me because he liked what I was doing and I must say that without him I could not have done half the job as a woman cannot tell an Irishman what to do!

He was born in England and raised there but thank to God, we found out that he had Irish ancestry, that changed the attitude of the natives no end. He then understood that I was not joking when I had said that the Irish did not like the Brits, because when he turned Irish, he heard all the anti Brits jokes that the Irish are too polite (sly) to make in front of you.

Ah, and the religion...without saying it outright, I behaved for 6 years as a catholic, that was easy as I am French everybody assumed that I was one. I stayed very away from the subject (I am Jewish).

Racism, I walked toward a black girl with a baby in a pram to ask her the time, she saw me coming and when I stopped in front of her she jumped back, she was so surprised that I talked to her that it took her a minute or so to regain her composure, she was charming and had the time. I wonder why she jumped?????

Ah, and the weather, moist mostly sometimes very wet

Now presumably the Irish on the group will shoot me down

Also 'Ireland will pleasure you and romance you and woo you' and rip you off when they can.

When you get off the boat in Dublin, the first thing you see is a striking group of statues of starving people walking towards the ships. Do not believe for one minute that the famine is forgotten, especially in the West....

17

Certainly the cost of living has reduced considerably in the last 3 or 4 years particularly property costs, you can now pick up properties in the west less than they were 10 years ago, however a property tax has now been introduced which is low by French standards.If you want wild and friendly don't rule out the northwest, Sligo, Mayo and Galway, incredible scenery and among the friendliest people in the country. You will find it much easier to integrate than in France. Irish people love talking about the weather,its a national pass time ! Its often not that bad, we had a great summer last year. You're probably better off renting in a couple of different localities to find what you'd really like and you won't be disappointed.

18

MAD is the word alright - I just saw a pic of a spanish friend of mine who moved to Cork, I sold him my motorbike :-)

The pic was him on top of our highest mountain peak Carrauntoohil (Co. Kerry) - on a gorgeous clear crisp day. Very very few Irish hikers/walkers have had this experience.

It really is pot luck, I am only gone a few months, so can testify that for a national, life has been increasingly hard because of recession / cut backs etc etc. France, as you know is no different for nationals - austerity is everywhere. However, as a foreign national, we somehow skirt around the "stuck in" feeling don't we?

So as a foreigner in Ireland you will skirt around a lot of the austerity, because you haven't been in the system over the past 7 years (since crash in 2008). You will research things like the health cover you will need, costs of owning a home, relative living costs, etc etc.

And don't let that hold back your dream, and next adventure. I second everything the girls have commented so far, Ireland will pleasure you and romance you and woo you. It can also plunge you into the depths of SAD - I can safely say we hve had our first nice summer last year (3 weeks by the way) since 2009, yes, each summer 2009-2012 was progressively worse, until 2013. And our winters have had an usual "freezing over" not to mention flooding.

When researching properties, flooding is a huge issue now, esp with house insurance - something to be very mindful of. Also, heating and sewage systems of a property are of huge importance. Heating costs for oil and gas have gone through the roof - very few use wood to heat their whole house. Old houses will have possible insulation problems. Newish houses could be even worse (if built during our "boom") Watch out for ghost estates if buying an estate house. An isolated building with its own septic tank will be targeted to install a new bio system (4000-6000 euros).

Kerry is beautiful, along with west cork is full of artisans - don't discount Kilkenny as Sheila mentioned - it's inland but stunning as a small city, and the centre of all things artistic, esp artwork. (and as she mentions - Kinsale in west cork).

Rain, hail and winds may not stop you getting out in nature - if you have the right clothing etc, for me it's more the longevity - bad weather has a habit of going on and on and on, and on and on...... the sunny breaks often catch us off guard - if you blink, you miss it!

Just some more musings, and to concur what has ben said already. There must also be an expat forum for Ireland. If you want to read what is being discussed in Ireland itself, try www.boards.ie

As for the drinking, God created alcohol to keep the Irish from conquering the world ;-)

All the best, may the road rise to meet you!

19

Hi Zoe

Yes I know what you mean. My friend and I said good morning to a gentleman about to sit at a table outside a cafe. He said 'sure its a grand morning to be alive if you have your arms & legs' but I know what he meant. Great people though and very friendly and the landscape is amazing. For someone like me who paints its going to be inspirational.

20

Hi Suzanne,

Delighted to hear you fell in love with Clare. I'm not from Clare, but it's a wild and wonderful part of the country. There might seem to be a lot of "mad" people in Clare, especially in the west, but it's normal, and there is no corner of Ireland any less "mad".
My only advice is even if you don't drink, when you initially move in, go to the pub..; it the best/only way to integrate with the locals, have your face seen, and meet people.
Other than that, a cup of tea can solve any problem, keep the good side out, and shur it'll be grand.