redundancy, what to do now

Hi All,
I am 40, will be made redundant at christmas, I should get about 40K, this will be all the money I have to my name, I have nothing else of value, what do I do next, the chances are I will be unemployed for the fore seeable future maybe for the rest of my life, well I mean I dont think I will get a good job in my field of engineering, I need to buy property with this money straight away otherwise I will never own my own place.
In the west of ireland you can buy a one / two bed apartment or basic house for 40K.
People say just keep renting, renting is not good, I live with strangers all the time and some nasty landlords.
So what do I do now.
I can buy an apartment in donegal and then live there on the dole.
I can continue to rent and hope I get a good job then save to get a mortgage, this is risky because if I dont get a good job and spend my 40k redundancy I will never buy my own place.
I could go traveling for a few years on the 40K but what do I do when the money is gone.
I could buy a house in the Philippines or somewhere in asia, live there and work in a bar and probably still have some money left over to enjoy life.
Any suggestions !!