Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Hello all
Myself and my husband have decided to move to ireland (Co Clare) with our 2 children age 5 & 2! We have a lot of family over there and we are going to stay with my husbands parents to start with. Unfortunately we wont have much money behind us as we are doing this for a fresh start,so Im a little anxious about finances. My husband may be working away for a while to get some funds behind us to get us set up with our home and I am hoping to find something part time
I have lots of questions.........
Will I be eligble for benefits whilst looking for work?
How does the health care system work?
Is there any help with childcare (ie-UK offer 15 hours free childcare when child turns 3, and my employer offers childcare voucher scheme)
What age do children start school?
We are very excited about this move and would be so grateful for any information you can igfer :-)

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

132 views and not one response? Have I done something wrong??

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Have a look at this site, found by using Google, any questions not answered there please come back with.

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Moving-to-Ireland.aspx

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Hi there, we have been living in ireland for 3 1/2 yrs about an hour south west of dublin. Firstly you will need to get an psri number when you arrive in ireland (same as national insurance number in uk) your childrrn will need them too. Not sure what benefits you will be entitiled too, but will deffo need to get the number before you can even apply. This can take awhile, my husband got his quite quickly but for some reason mine took weeks. Ireland has the hse instead of the nhs, the major difference is you have to pay over here, you may be intitled to a medical card which will cover some of the costs but it is means tested. The average cost of seeing your gp is between 30-70 euros a go plus any perscription you might be given. Example i saw my gp recently for contraception, 50euro to see gp,98 euro for 6 mth prescription. This would have been completly free in uk. Under 5s visits to gp are now free but think the stiil have to pay full cost of any prescriptions. The health system as far as secondary care ie hospitals is very confusing, we have health insurance but very confusing as to what it actually covers, and you have to cover so much of the psyment. Schools stsrt at age 5 and you are entitiled to one free year before this, this can be at a nursery or at certain creches. Schooling can be expensive also as you have to buy all you childs books, a friend of ours has three daughters an it cost them sround 2000euros for the three of them in setember!
As for looking fo work, the recession has hit ireland much harder than in the uk, unemployment is getting better but is still very high, so dont bank on getting work quickly, and wouldnt depend on recieving any benefits, you may be entitled but could take a long while, i would check on the irish govs website as to entitlements and time frames.

Irelsnd is a great place to live but everything is more expensive, getting work can be very tricky. Things tend to be done very slowly too, council buildingd/tax offices etcay only be open one afternoon a wk, which is very fustrating when you are trying to get things like psri numbers, benefit claims, medicals etc sorted. As you have family over here things could be made easier as they know where everything is, opening hours, lots of local knowledge. Ask them to go into places like the gp surgery, benefits place and collect any infomation they can to help you out, and give you a better understanding of things.

Hope this helps.
Nic

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Well, it does depend where you live regarding job and what you want to do. It's not harder to get a job here compared to the UK. You say that you pay to visit the GP, but don't forget that in the UK it's automatically taken out of your salary each month (higher taxes). You also have to consider that we have Euros here, not pounds and things are cheaper than you think when you actually compare. I agree that driving is more expensive, but our mortgage here for a nice detached 4 bed is less than we were paying rent for a 2bed apartment in UK. Again it always depends on location and what you want from life.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Moses affraid i have to disagree, taxes are higher here, fact, higher tax brackets apply at lower earnings rates, general cost of living is higher, tesco have nick named ireland treasure ireland.... household charge? Property tax?unemployment is about 10per cent higher in ireland, although i do agree that rents are generally cheaper as are house prices now.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Well, funny enough my take home salary is a lot higher here compared to the UK (only 18% tax). Ok it might come soon, but we don't pay for water, we have no council tax. We only pay property tax once a year which is very low. I never really go to Tesco, so can't really compare, but find other chains have good bargains and not more expensive for international stuff. I only buy fresh meat and free range eggs, don't mind paying for quality if it's local but still not more expensive. If you like smoking or drinking I agree Ireland isn't for you. Don't forget that in the UK people doing courses aren't counted as unemployed but in reality they are + we have a higher minimum wage. It's always hard to compare countries, as everyone sees it different. In my case I can save 60-70% more compared to the UK, but that's probably because my mortgage is low and I don't smoke.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Thanks so much for the info!
We are moving to Co Clare. I currently work as HR manager, but have an accounts background and also office management experience. My husband works in civil engineering so he is worried work may be a problem and he may have to work in uk and travel to start with.
Is there a set fee for prescriptions? Someone told me we could claim from british NHS for first couple years?? I have no idea if there is any truth in that. So are we taking £650 per child for school books? That seems extortionate!! Our daughter is just about to turn 6 and hoping we can be over there by sept for her to start school
Do you have any advice on mortgages? Ie how difficult is it to get one these days? It will be a hear or so till we will be in a position to even consider it but just wondering how hard it is. My husband has bad credit at the min in uk and wondering if that will affect him?
Lot to consider but on a whole we are excited about this move as feel Ireland has so much more to offer for us as a family. The education for a start is better! And we love the slow pace of ireland and being able to enjoy life and children having much more freedom. Money isnt everything!

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Of course there are always negatives wherever you go and nicci82 might have a different opinion. If you compare everything and want exactly the same life as you had in the UK you'll never adapt. You both seem to have good job experience, so I don't see a problem there, but location is important. You're always better off moving to an area where companies are, rather than just focusing on one area. Co. Clare is amazing, but I can't say what companies are based there. I know that Shannon has a lot of International companies and with new flight connections and investment from the US seems to be picking up. You also have the option to commute to Limerick or Galway depending where you rent. Getting a mortgage is very simple and banks are actually approving more than ever. You need a permanent position, 10% deposit and can borrow 4-5 times your annual salary before tax. You'll need to provide 6 months bank statements and pay slips. If you both get a job, try and not spend too much for 6 months then you should be fine. There are and still will be bargains around for the next few years, so don't rush and find an area you really like.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

I'm not sure where you are at with giving advice about how easy it is to get a mortgage - it is not easy, especially with no Irish credit history. A poor UK credit history should not play a part in obtaining credit in ROI, but believe me it does and will.

I have been here 15 years and have friends who are Bankers and Auctioneers
so I have some insight into what is happening.

http://www.herald.ie/opinion/columni...-30050376.html

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Hmm, funny enough I've been living in Ireland for 2 1/2 years (have always been visiting and family is from Ireland) and we got a mortgage straight away. We have no credit history in Ireland apart from the 6 months bank statements, pay slips etc. (which is history). Of course you'll struggle if you have a temporary contract, are in probation period, but I did say permanent position:confused: I also worked for the bank and have friends in finance. If you check Ulster Bank 8 out of 10 first time buyer applications are being accepted. Of course you'll struggle to get a mortgage if you have several loans, but it's fact that they are lending. Every report is different so don't always believe the press http://www.independent.ie/business/p...-30133841.html

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Don't mislead people, it really is not something one should do.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Not saying i expected for life in ireland to be exactly the same as in the uk, the things ive mentioned are things i wished i known before coming over here. I must say that we love living in ireland, even though we live in a rural area there is a greater sense of community, in summer there are lots of fairs/shows at weekends which you can get involved in.
As far as stuff for school books etc it depends on what year the child is going into, what i would call year six, so first yr at secondardy school is about 900e where as first yr in juniors is much less. The schools only change the books every 6 yrs i think so you can hand them down to siblings as long as they fall within the time frame.
As far as mortages, i think it depends on the bank, we got accepted easily but we had lived here for about two yrs and were with the same bank for that period, so they could see money coming in/ going out and how we managed the account. We wouldn't be classed as first time buyers though as we have a house in the uk, because of this we needed a larger deposit, not sure if that would vary bank to bank??
Renting is a good option at least at first, and gives time for you to build up a credit rating over here, also you can get a lot more for your money over here when renting compared to the uk generally. Check out daft.ie.
Precriptions charges vary per medication and how much you get ie one month or six months. Your charged for the amount not per prescription. It can vary massivly, i had two prescriptions recently for for six month, one cost 98 euro the other 240 euro. I have heard of people travelling up the north to get prescriptions because its so much cheaper.
If you have pets, good news vets care is cheaper!
Can't think of anything else.....

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Mislead? I just explained the facts and nothing else. If you have a criminal record, you know it's going to be harder to get a job. If you can't manage your money or only have a temp position, you know it will be harder to get a mortgage.

Re: Moving to Ireland from UK-advice needed!!
 

Ireland is horrendously expensive and poor value. Property outside of the cities specifically Dublin are cheap but are of a much poorer quality and finish as to houses in the UK, largely because a lot of them were thrown up pre-2008/2009 crash.

Food, clothing, entertainment, motoring, utilities and health are considerably more expensive than you'll find in the UK. The biggest rip off is car tax, if you own or plan on bringing a pre-2007 with a 2 litre engine or bigger then you're in for a nasty shock. GP visits are typically anything north of 50 euros and prescription costs will make anything you've ever thought of expensive in the UK look like a sick joke. Tax in Ireland is horrific and they introduced an additional form of taxation to be deducted at source called the USC which in effect is a double whammy of PAYE but that all depends on earnings. Unless you are self employed and export your services and know how to play the tax system, Ireland is a pauper trap.