Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Good Morning,

New here so be gentle.

After visiting Ireland for the first time at the end of May for my son's wedding, we fell in love with the place and have decided to take early retirement and move to Ireland (from the UK). I've been over again at the end of August, found a property and put a deposit down on it.

As much as I've done my research, there are conflicting amounts of advice that are causing confusion on my part so I have various questions to ask if people would be so kind to answer?

1. After putting a deposit down on the house and employing a solicitor, I found out that we needed a PPS number. I filled out the forms and sent them off yesterday by recorded post. Can anyone estimate how long they take to come through?

2. The property was 165,000 euros. Is there any monthly property tax (rates) to pay on this property and if so what would they be?

3. Wifi - I read somewhere that there is a problem with this in Ireland. Is it true?

4. When we bring our car over, do we have to get it registered in Ireland?

5. Prescriptions - I'm on daily medication after suffering a heart attack 8 years ago. I currently have a pre-paid certificate that I pay monthly for. Is this still applicable in Ireland or do they operate a different system?

6. I've read somewhere that medical care may be means tested. Is this correct?

7. Do you need to be resident in Ireland before you can actually open a bank account?

Think that's the main points covered. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance :thumbsup:

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Ireland has a different health system from the UK, I don't think your pre-paid prescriptions certificate will be valid in Ireland.

Have you think of moving to Northern Ireland? As part of the UK, you will be covered by the NHS in Northern Ireland and there is no prescriptions charges in Northern Ireland.

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Good afternoon, I hope this helps, we retired here in January 2016. Our council tax is €225 a year, our PPS numbers took 5 weeks to come through to our address in UK ( before we bought our house ). We opened a Bank of Ireland bank account in Ireland whilst still resident in UK, explaining that we will become resident eventually!
I had to register my car for Irish plates ( €470 for 2001 Golf ), then get the road tax ( a whopping €670 for a year! ) then change my UK driving licence for Irish licence as you can't drive/own an Irish plate car on UK licence.
Everything here is great and ( I think ) much cheaper than living in UK apart from the car situation. That is our biggest expense.
Can't comment on the health care I'm afraid as of yet have had no need to use it.
Good luck with your move, I love it here.

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Thank you very much for the replies so far. I think i'll try and open an account first of all with Bank of Ireland, see how I get on with that.
There seems to be so much to sort out but I know it'll be worth it when we actually land there.
Thanks again ;)

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Regarding your driving licence, there is no need to exchange it for an irish one until the photo card is due to expire (10 years after issue). You can drive an irish registered car quite legally on a uk licence as it is (for now) an eu licence.

I can't post a link (due to access here) but just google 'uk driving licence ireland' and the first link is the Irish National Drivers Licence Service and it explains it all.


What jenny-laurel might be getting confused with is the rather strange law that an Irish resident cannot legally drive a car registered outside the state when in the state i.e. you can't drive a UK registered car in Ireland if you are a resident here.

Also regarding your question about 'wifi' I assume you mean broadband internet? Basically it is very hit and miss, coverage maps area available but they are also a little in accurate in places. Most places will have broadband available but eh speed could be low. Unfortunately if you're ina bad coverage area there is little you can do about it.

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

The thing is that it might make sense to have an Irish Licence. What I have found is that if you have a non Irish Licence some insurers charge you €100 more. This has happened to several colleagues who have an EU Licence. This should be illegal but is still happening.


If you want to reduce road tax, it is a lot cheaper to drive a newer car and can sometimes make financial sense. While jenny-laurel said she is paying a whopping €670, I pay €280 a year. If you calculate the rod tax for an older car, higher insurance (some insurers do not even insure a car that's older than 10 years) + repairs, you could save a lot more money.

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

My car is Irish registered, not UK registered. When I did this I was told I MUST change my UK licence for an Irish licence. It was a photo licence and was not due to expire. This was reiterated several times, so no I am not getting confused!

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Fair enough, you were misinformed.

From NDLS (National Driver License Service) Website (also repeated on citizens information):
"If you have a driving licence issued by an EU/EEA member state you can drive in Ireland as long as your existing licence is valid. If you wish to exchange your driving licence for an equivalent Irish driving licence, you must do so within 10 years of your driving licence expiring."

This isn't a personal attack, just trying to prevent the misinformation spreading.

Have a good day!

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

Property tax is about €27 per month for 2018.

Re: Retiring to Co. Sligo
 

There is a sliding scale for property tax. See the entry here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_...y_tax_(Ireland)