Any American ex-pats on here who have relocated to Ireland? How are you liking it?

Question

How long have you been living there, what's the work situation, details etc...? I am considering a move.Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm LOVING it.

I lived in Texas. The weather of Ireland is very temperate.

Kids-anyone can go anywhere they want (there is no danger of paedphiles or murderers). There is barely any crime.

Everyone is healthy (there is no obese people). Wages are great for everyone. There is no racism or any tension between any gangs(they don't exist!).

Everyone is friendly. Ireland has several times been named as the highest standard of living.

It truly is the best place on earth.

Answer 2

I've been here in Dublin a little more than a year now.  I do like it a lot, but it isn't perfect.  Yer man seems to think it's perfect, but there are problems!  Traffic in Dublin and many other places is dreadful.  Public transportation is mediocre.  Everything is expensive.  Unless you're wealthy you won't be able to buy a house in Dublin -- real estate continues to skyrocket.  There's definitely work here -- low level jobs are easy to find.  Although there are huge numbers of eastern Europeans filling most of these jobs, employers will probably always be more attracted to someone who has fluent English.  With professional jobs, it will depend on your field.  Do as much research as possible before you come over.  

Also, remember that Americans normally can't just move over here and start working permanently.  You can come over as a visitor or student for a limited amount of time, but getting a work permit for most people will not be easy.  The exceptions are if you qualify for Irish citizenship (though the laws on this have become stricter in the past few years) or are married to an Irish citizen, as I am.  I've heard of people coming over here, doing a job hunt, being hired, arriving for work the first day ... and being told to go home because they can't get a PPS number.  No joke!  

But if you are able to work here legally (or can find work that pays you under the table -- which does go on, though I don't know anything about it), you'll find that Ireland is now a very wealthy, thriving country.  But it's going through growing pains now.  People in the media are always agonizing about the state of the Irish soul, whether they're being corrupted by consumerism or just enjoying a bit of a laugh after so many years of poverty.  And be aware, though there are still a lot of very devout Catholics in Ireland, they are largely invisible in public -- Ireland has become openly hostile to the Catholic Church.  Also, I don't think I've ever met an Irish person who admires anything about the US president.  If you come over as a loudmouthed US Republican, people will talk about you behind your back.  In fact, there's the general attitude around that Americans are eejits -- and looking at the most visible American tourists, I can see why.  You may find yourself having to prove you're not like most Americans.

The things that are hardest for me are the little things -- shops closing early, no WalMarts anywhere (a good thing, actually), no hot water heaters (immersion only), tiny apartments, absurd restrictions on herbal health supplements.  But it's still a great place, despite everything.  Everyone complains about the weather, but I love it -- no snow or ice, no sweltering heat.  Green everywhere (well, not so much in the city).  Lots of very friendly people, even in Dublin.  Lovely old buildings.  Ireland is becoming Americanized, but it's as if they're still twenty years behind -- so I say, enjoy the relative sanity while it lasts.