valis

Okay... In a nutshell;

I am a 70-yo UK citizen, having lived as a permanent resident with my US citizen wife for the last 15+ years in the US.
I won't go into the rationale, but we are considering retiring to the RoI.

I have two small UK pensions (state and teachers') and Medicare. My wife is a few years younger and has yet to retire.

Is this practical? And what do we need to consider?

Many thanks,

Alan

Moses2013

The Ireland section is pretty quite these days. Since your wife is under non visa requirement countries this won't be a problem https://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...20preclearance.

Like everywhere it just depends what you are looking for, where you plan to settle and if you have the finances to make it work. We live in Couny Galway and bought when house prices were very low, the job market is pretty good and only got better since we came. We personally enjoy more the peace and quiet and sometimes wish we could be in a more remote area as it certainly has got a lot busier over the last 10+ years😉. Can't complain really and it's the first world problems that annoy me the most such as the littering, bad driving, bad planning, more houses being built etc. Compared to England it certainly feels like paradise for us and we love the beaches, lakes and mountains. Unfortunately the biggest challenge now is even finding accommodation and rental prices are insane. Today there are only 67 rental properties available in the whole of County Galway. Like the UK public health services have staff shortages, long waiting lists and I would highly recommend private health insurance (which we have through work). As always it all comes down to location and Ireland is in a way very similar to New Zealand. There are huge differences between urban and rural life, a lot of investment happens in one city so that can sometimes mean other areas are lacking the services you might be looking for.

OrangeMango

Yes, the countryside and the beaches are lovely, sometimes better than in the UK.

Ireland on the other hand isn't that great to retire, unless you have a lot of money. Many things are more expensive than in the UK and there is a shortage of nearly everything, from doctors to nurses, to police officers, and yes the biggest problem is housing. Buy a property if you can, then you have security, renting is a bit of an insecure joke in Ireland, plus Dublin is more expensive than London or Paris with noticeable less infrastructure. Remember in a city like Dublin they are sometimes asking for up to 1600 Euros per month for a room ( with en-suite ) in shared housing and finding a one bedroom apartment for 1700 Euros per month in a decent neighborhood is a good deal.

Society in Ireland seems less polarizing than in the UK, less antisocial behaviour, but that's more felt, less industrial action, no doctor's or nurses strike, no ASLEF or RMT strikes on trains...... ( except for the Irish "love affair" with Palestinians and Hamas, expect lots of Palestinian flags, etc.... )

There are a lot less police officers per capita around, and their capabilities are not as good as in the UK due to chronic under-financing. Same goes for military, or more lack of it.