Pacino2011

Hi, this is my first post on this site.

I've been offered a job in Dublin and I'm currently working and living in the UK as a UK national. I'm looking to get advice from someone who has moved from the UK to the Republic of Ireland in last 1-3 years to ask some questions.
Please only reply to me if you have moved from UK to work in Ireland in last 3 years and you are a UK national.

thanks

Jim

Londonuck

Jim... look down below mate, all the answers will be there.

Pacino2011

Many thanks for all the responses. I decided to turn down my job offer
for personal reasons and I did not manage to contact anyone who had moved to Ireland from UK in last two years and was a UK national to get a real insight into life in Ireland/Dublin from a tax, health and personal perspective.
I will probably regret in later life not taking the job as the pay was Euro 150k, but my family means more to me than my career.

Jim

Joe-Soap

Hi Jim,
that is very good remuneration at any time, especially in the current recession.
Can I ask what the position was?
Regards,
Sean Mac Maghnuis

Horus

Maybe if you hadn't limited the request to people who moved in the last two years - we've all moved here recently but very few have come in the last two years

brodrjam

Hi

I moved to Dublin from London with wife and 3 kids this summer. Sold up in Dec 2010, moved the family over and commuted weekly whilst job situation became clear.

Family and quality of life was the main reason for moving (wife is a Dub) and having bought property near the coast I can safely say its the best thing we ever did as a family. Wife and three (young) kids have never been happier - we spent yesteday afternoon on the beach and all are / will be in great schools.

What recent knowledge is it that you specifically wanted to know?

Joe-Soap

I moved to Ireland 2 years ago.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
I can honestly say it has been the best thing I have ever done in my life.
My only regret is that I did not do it years ago.

sickntired

I'm now in year twelve and it takes a good while for the novelty to wear off and also to see things for what exactly they are. My rose tinted spectacles are definitely off and I can see things in their true light. Ireland is not some utopia as some would have you believe.

Having said that I have no intention of ever going back to the UK. In fact I don't even like going back to visit that much any more. As the years go by my visits to the UK become less and less.

Good luck to anyone who comes here.

Cuthbert Rizla

I find myself in a similar situation.
I have been in Ireland about 15 years and, funnily enough, the longer I have stayed here the more it has become like the UK.
British media, television, shops, fashions have invaded the country and the younger generation have grasped them all enthusiastically to the extent that Irishness has almost disappeared in anyone under 21.
Yet other aspects of life which you take for granted in the UK are not here such as pubs with a variety of beers that serve good food at a reasonable price.
The quality and variety of shops outside the main cities are also abysmal.
And driving through the country it's depressing to see endless dull towns with depressing modern architecture and bungalows as far as the eye can see - without any sort of coherent planning policy.
Since the demise of the Celtic Tiger I've found the Irish have also become even more insular - foreigners who have made their home here will always be treated as outsiders.Ireland is not an inclusive or cosmopolitan society.
And having tasted the good life built on a housing bubble only to see it snatched away to be replaced by crippling,lifelong debt the Irish have become overwhelmed with bitterness and anger towards those in authority yet unwilling to do anything about it themselves.
Last year as I was driving through a town in the midlands I noticed a settee had been dumped in a lay-by. Last week when I drove through the town again it was still there.
The Irish jut can't be arsed to help themselves.

Joe-Soap

Very sad, but very true.
I could not agree with you more.

Annbel

I am thinking of moving to Ireland....My mother was Irish and I note that an english woman whose father was irish was told ...she was and Irish citizen because her father was....does this make me an Irish Citizen. I am 65 what is offered to OAP's in ireland I believe you do not have council tax or water rates? I would love to live part of my life in the country ..I love and I have always felt my soul is Irish lol

Joe-Soap

You are an Irish citizen. You are also an EU citizen if you are born in the UK, so you can live in Ireland as an EU citizen. It does not matter if you have British or Irish citizenship as they are both in the EU.
You can apply for an Irish passport using your mothers birth certificate.
Currently there is no Council tax or water rates here (although there is talk of introducing water rates).
You will not be eligible to any state benefits until you have passed the HRC (Habitual Residence Condition).
In practice this means living in Ireland for 2 years, therefore satisfying the Social Welfare that you are habitually resident; and that your centre of interest is now Ireland (not the UK).
If you read my post: Habitual Residence Condition, it will give you more detailed information about this.
Feel free to message me any specific questions.
You will find living in Ireland is culturally very different to living in the UK. The pace of life is slower here. The hardest thing I found was to adjust to this, having lived 32 years in London prior to moving to Ireland. It took me 6 months to slow down and adapt to the Irish pace of life. Generally speaking you will find people more friendly in Ireland. The economy is very bad, and there is high unemployment; but if you are retired and have a pension this will not concern you as much.
If you can support yourself then I would advise yourself to go for it.
I wish you the best of luck with it.

Londonuck

The one thing that stopped my parents and my parents in law going back to Ireland is the heathcare . Possibly one of the most expensive and worst at that.

Annbel

Well I am a Londoner ...but even typing the word gives me the Ebbeegees. But I am so glad I was brought up there I am street wise and very at ease with allsorts....that I do not often find in people who live in the country.

My pace of life is ....quiet and peaceful...Lincolnshire has given me that so Ireland would be no probs.

I adored Ireland and its people ....and found the other half of me...which was allien to Uk. The crack the music around the bar around the turf fire. All changed I know.

The fear of a worse health ..than Uk fills me with horror tho at my age.

Joe-Soap

I could not agree with you more.
It is one of the reasons my parents did not return too. They have the benefit of free NHS in England. The standard of healthcare in Ireland is not as good as the UK. 50 Euro just for a GP visit, then drugs on top of that.
That is one of the reasons I live near the border, so I can avail of free NHS dental care, and GP visits when I need them.