Moving to Ireland Blogs

We have been in Ireland for 18 months now and have a few very interesting observations. Now don't get me wrong! I am very grateful to be allowed to live and work in Ireland without restriction. And I find Ireland to be one of the most beautiful places on earth (I've lived in 5 other countries), but I have some gripes!
I find that Irish consumers just take any old crap that's dished up to them as if it is their lot in life and that they should just accept it. Take motor insurance for instance. It is the most expensive place in the world to insure a motor vehicle - without doubt. And why? Why are insurance rates so high when motor vehicle accidents are few and far between, and theft rates are amongst the lowest in the world? It is because we have a government that has made insurance compulsory, but hasn't regulated the industry's pricing. Why should I, a 50 year old man with a clean record, pay €600 per year to insure a car that's worth €2000? It is all bollocks! I have recently had to insure my daughter as a learner driver. We live in a rural location, hardly any traffic to contend with, not much chance of an accident, and we have to pay €1800 per year insurance! If the rates were based on accident statistics and actual costs incurred I would understand and pay with a smile. But the rates are not based on any of these: the rates are based on corporate greed. Check the financial performance of any Irish insurance company and then try and tell me that their profits are justified.
And what of the outrageous prices we pay for a snack or a light meal? In the UK you get a full fried breakfast for £2.00 - £2.95. In Ireland the cheapest I have found is €8.00 - why????? Why do we pay so much more for stuff here?
It is time that Irish consumers dug their heels in and refused to pay these ridiculous prices. How about starting a protest group and arranging some boycott action?

Now back to the positives in life. When I arrived in Ireland I got a job quite quickly in a senoir position with a large company in Munster. I was very successful at what I did, but found that I wasn't being paid what I was worth. But with a recession looming I couldn't move to another employer and couldn't make demands on my employer for a better deal. So I just started my own business and found that I could turn the "rip off Ireland" phenomenon to my own advantage. I found that my competitors were charging more than double what I was, and for an inferior product at that. So I have marketed myself very aggressively and have literally been eating the opposition for breakfast. Two global competitors have cut their prices to Ireland; one of them has halved their price and I am still cheaper than them! So what I really am trying to get across is a double point - don't use a recession as an excuse to fail, and don't assume that because all of your opposition charge the same, you should too. As an example, let's say that a small car sells for €100k, but you have a similar car that you can afford to sell for €60k. Should you sell it for €60k or should you sell it for €95k to be similar in price to your opposition, and make an obscene profit? You should know by now that I would sell it at €60k and move 1000 units instead of selling at €95k and only moving 10.

So yes, Ireland has been kind to me (except the fecking weather!) and I am grateful to be here. But I think that we should all get off our butts and stop the constant ripoff! Lidl or Aldi are low cost outlets - what is Dunne's response? "We're Irish!" So fecking what? I am going to spend my moeny where I get the best value, not where the flag is flown high!

The more I learn about moving to Ireland, the more I find I still need to learn. I'm ready to give up. Three years and thousands of bits of information and yet virtually no progress on moving to Ireland. My wife and I are both artists. The majority of our work is of things, and places Irish. We are both retired. Our retirement income isn't a lot, but after a dozen visits over 16 years, we find that we can manage to live well enough (dollar vs euro fluctuations notwithstanding). No one seems to know how much is enough to satisfy those who control entry. So we have decided, the next time we go over will be for 3 months, we will apply for an extension once we are there and attempt to address some of the other obstacles we've encountered. The worst that might happen is only being allowed in for a few weeks. Or we "only" get to spend 3 months there. The best that might happen??? I'll let you know. I'm going to do this now because I am about to turn 67 years of age and I don't know how many quality years I have left. All we want is a quiet life, time to paint, a few pints at Mary Tap's, a round or two of golf at Farrangalway and Skibbereen and maybe some visits from our children and our grandchildren. The most insurmountable problem seems to be proof of medical coverage. Most plans that we can afford in America, won't provide coverage in Ireland. So the plan is 3 months or bust.

I am lost after hundreds of hours reading blogs, staring at job advertisements and house listings. I am an American with a wife and child who have decided to make a life change. We want to move, live and work in Ireland. This has nothing to do with the economic crisis in the world, the presidential elections of our country or any other motive than a fresh start. Any information on where to start would be greatly appreciated. The reality is as follows. My wife is an HR Director/Manager with a Masters Degree (highly educated) and works for two of the entities involved with Notre Dame University. I am currently a Field Supervisor for a company that sub-contracts to public utilities. We locate and mark buried utility cables and pipes. I have no degree and have only gone to college for a short time before the opportunity came for me in my field of work.

There is no County in Ireland I would not prefer over another. I had family that lived in Kilkenny County that I found according to some family tree tracking kept by my aunt. My sister attended college and had a room-mate from Wexford County. I have been talking with her about the move and she does not have much information to give that I haven't already looked at.

So, I am really just looking for a point in the right direction or what you may have done and in what order.

Thanks in advance.

Still nothing happening. The authorities seemed to have taken a vacation from answering my emails. Perhaps I have become too much of a pest?
I still don't know how much income I have to show at customs to be allowed to extend my stay and not be. "a burden on the state". I really don't want to find the answer at Irish customs at Shannon. Hasn't anyone else had this problem?
I'll let you know if there is any news.
Chris

I am a retired graphic designer turned painter. All my wife and I want to do is move to Ireland to pursue our art. I know I probably can't get a job. I know I have to show proof of sufficient funds to maintain myself. What I don't know, and the Irish embassy and other government offices won't tell me, is what constitutes sufficient funds? I have my retirement income which is just sufficient to support me (if the dollar doesn't tank again).
I don't need much to survive. I've already found affordable accommodations, and I know from many previous visits, buying food is okay and my cooking won't kill me. But I'm trying to get an idea of what "they" see as a number.
I spend most of my time when I'm in Ireland in the Kinsale/Skibbereen area. I plan to subsidize my income with the odd painting sale on ebay, and possibly teaching art (I'm still waiting to hear if I will be allowed to do that).
Anyone have any advice? A $ amount? Anything?
Thanks.

It has been a while - and I've been getting "Harrers, we miss you!" emails. I'm sure they're sent automatically, because no one misses me that much.

So, what's been happening? On the whole, a load of not much, really.

Well - that's not strictly true.

We're still on the wrong side of the Irish Sea - but that's no surprise. Neither of us thought we'd be over in a month. Unless we won the lottery, which we haven't.

However, recently things have seemed to pick up. Possibly. I found a job that might just be perfect. It's even in journalism, which is handy. I applied. I got a response. We exchanged emails. We spoke over the phone. We exchanged more emails. Salary details were discussed. And more emails were exchanged.

Of course, I have to be absolutely honest. Nothing's been agreed, and I promised myself I wouldn't get over-excited until I had a reason to get over-excited, but...

I just started to move the old table-based design over to a CSS based design, visually it will look the exact same but it produces much cleaner code, reduces the file sizes and is much more search engine friendly.I've been planning on doing it for ages but I've put it off for one reason or another and last night I got bored so I decided to start on it.

It will only affect the non-forum and non-blog areas which means there's only really about 10 pages to do. That doesn't make it any easier though.

Because 95% of the site activity is in the forum area all the other pages have been neglected so it's about time they got some tlc.

It will probably take a week or so to get it all moved over.

My boyfriend lives in Ireland and I was hoping to move over there, to be with him, work, and live. I am a Massage Therapist and my hopes would be to get a job as such in Ireland. I've done a bit of research and thus far my hopes are low. I've read that in order to get a work visa (which I would need in order to work and make money) I would need to be making at least 30,000 a year along with tons of other requirements. I feel lost and overwhelmed, seeing as I was hoping to be able to move there in September of this year. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I have had a few people (finally) write and ask how things are going and how I'm getting on, (Yaaaay Interest!) But rather than give just a yeah it's ok, I figured I'd start putting down some enties from my journal as to give a proper update...

It's Early morning, and I've just gotten on the bus to leave Dublin airport to head over to the Hostel... A million images of a new future for myself , My Beautiful Bride and My Children are rolling around in my jet lagged brain...
The flight was relatively uneventful, outside of the fact that the flight staff by the end of the flight were taking bets on who would give me the final cup of coffee that would make me explode... Now mind you, those people that do know me will laugh at this... In the states I carried around a 64 oz mug that was filled several times per day...Coffee is my lifeblood, if you cut me open I actually will bleed mountain grown. As I go to stand up out of the corner of my eye I can see a flurry of 5 euro notes amongst the staff come out and get passed hand to hand... (Did I mention that the Irish will bet on anything that has an outcome?)
I reach up into the overhead bin, and get my bag with one of my sketchpads in it and then sit back down. There is a barely audible groan from the galley as all the notes go back to their original owners...
I motion one of the flight attendants over, and the young brunette comes over with a wary smile... I hand her a 5 euro note fresh from the airport exchange and tell her that I'll take five on the fact that I don't go at all... She laughs and rolls her eyes, takes the fiver and heads back to the galley... More nervous laughter erupts and 5 minutes later cup number 9 makes it to my tray...
I have to admit that I did leave the plane with a mild floating sensation, but I was also an extra 20 euro happier then when I had embarked on my journey.
The Line at Customs,was a bit harrowing, as I danced silently in place...(Have you ever noticed that when your brain realizes that you are close to a toilet that it sends a proximity alert to your bladder and kidneys increasing your need to be at that toilet by a thousand fold in just a few seconds?) The problem was I could see the restroom sign from the line so now I am starting to walk like a penguin in the frozen north.. There were Two Lines, one for Citizens, and one for others... I'm a dual citizen, but as it was my first time here as a dual citizen I wasn't sure if that counted so I waited waddling and trying not to do something that I haven't done since I was Two...
The Customs Guy was nice enough to let me know, that I could have waited in the much faster Citizens Line and next time I could do that, But just before he stamps my passport, he gets a concerned look on his face "Are You alright ?" he asked... Now mind you at this point I most likely did look like I been smuggling a sachet of drug filled balloons in myself internally as I was starting to sweat profusely and was waddling in place head down just focusing on all the things that were dry in this life...
I looked up and said bluntly "No, I have had 12 cups of coffee on the plane and I have to pee like a racehorse!"
He said "Damn I wish I had a fiver on that one!" as the stamp came down.

Sent off a job application last week.

Got a phone call at 5.20pm on the Thursday before the long Easter weekend.

Unfortunately, we were out, so I have to ring back the Tuesday after the long Easter weekend.

It's amazing how long four days can be.