Would you move back to Ireland?

Exit

I've been living in Canada for just over a year now (with back and forth trips over the previous 4 years), and just lately I cannot see myself moving back to Ireland to live.

Sure, it's good for a 2-3 week holiday to go back, and yes, there are things I miss about Ireland that aren't the same here, but Ireland, or more specifically Dublin, is a ****hole in my opinion. I rarely visit Irish news sites, and have only recently started coming back here, but I keep hearing stories that make me hate the place. Reading the thread about the scumbags stoning the firemen, reading threads complaining about immigrants, and reading threads about general behavioural attitudes of people there have made me realise how better off life is here.

Recently, my Canadian woman expressed interest in one day living in Ireland (she's never been) and I keep thinking how a non-white person would be treated over there compared to here, and it makes me never want to ever go back to living there.

Does anyone else feel that after seeing the world, that Ireland just doesn't compare, and that the little things you miss aren't worth having to live there for them? Or am I the only one who feels this way?

Ruu_Old

I miss Ireland, I do but probably because I was born and raised there, miss my folks and friends. I don't miss the price of everything though. I'll be going home for a week in November, first time in over a year. Don't really like seeing headlines like "Average house prices at €400,000". I hear stories from my Mam everyday, talk to her when shes online, about immigrants (and locals) fighting in town and running through streets when the gardai couldn't give a hoot, but I won't turn this into a immigrant bashing thread. This is a small town in Meath, not Dublin city, so I don't see myself going back and its probably going to get worse before better.
I miss the little things but its not worth all the hassle of it all, I'll get over it. That said Ireland isn't the only place its happening either, I happen to be living in a college town, relatively quiet neighbourhood in central Illinois so I'm lucky. My 2c anyway.

toomevara

I did it, i.e lived abroad for large parts of my twenties, came home 4 years ago and couldnt settle at all, despite the fact that getting back to Ireland had always been my plan. Leaving again in two weeks time. I find Ireland a very frustrating, claustraphobic place in ways that my friends who've more or less lived here all their lives don't. I'm glad to be leaving and frankly, holidays, family events apart I don't think I'll be back.......

motormatic

I think I would. I've really been wanting to anyway. I was in England and Ireland for a couple weeks a few months ago and have been completely and utterly depressed since getting back to Canada. I've been in Canada for 12 years now (with a few in Texas in the middle there) but I've never really felt at home here. I do love Toronto, but I miss the countryside and my family like crazy.

Just decided with a friend yesterday to go to Sligo for two weeks in October and I'm deadly excited! Going to get our tickets tomorrow, because I didn't know this but apparantly no one wants to go to Ireland in October. It's dirt cheap! So we're jumping on it.

Ruu_Old

motormatic wrote:

I think I would. I've really been wanting to anyway. I was in England and Ireland for a couple weeks a few months ago and have been completely and utterly depressed since getting back to Canada. I've been in Canada for 12 years now (with a few in Texas in the middle there) but I've never really felt at home here. I do love Toronto, but I miss the countryside and my family like crazy.

Just decided with a friend yesterday to go to Sligo for two weeks in October and I'm deadly excited! Going to get our tickets tomorrow, because I didn't know this but apparantly no one wants to go to Ireland in October. It's dirt cheap! So we're jumping on it.

Am heading over in November and found tickets to be fairly reasonable, not sure how I am going to react to going back to the US when the trip is up.

K!LL!@N

I moved to Sacramento four months ago and apart from family and friends, there's nothing i miss about Ireland.

My wife (American) and I had talked about wanting to eventually move back and i had thought that maybe we would but i like things here too much now and i'm not sure i can see myself going back permanently.

We'll see what happens i guess but as of now i can't see myself moving back.

Killian

Ruu_Old

K!LL!@N wrote:

I moved to Sacramento four months ago and apart from family and friends, there's nothing i miss about Ireland.

My wife (American) and I had talked about wanting to eventually move back and i had thought that maybe we would but i like things here too much now and i'm not sure i can see myself going back permanently.

We'll see what happens i guess but as of now i can't see myself moving back.

Killian

Liking the petrol prices there? Actually they have gone down somewhat over the last week or two and I have heard or read somewhere could be down to $2 a gallon by Thanksgiving \o/ (won't hold my breath though), cheapest in Illinois is around $2.50 a gallon.

Gandhi

Never moving back. Been in the US for ten years now, and I couldn't imagine living in Ireland any more.

It has changed too much anyway. I hardly recognise the place when I go home now.

K!LL!@N

Ruu wrote:

Liking the petrol prices there? Actually they have gone down somewhat over the last week or two and I have heard or read somewhere could be down to $2 a gallon by Thanksgiving \o/ (won't hold my breath though), cheapest in Illinois is around $2.50 a gallon.

It's been dropping here.
I don't drive at the moment but my wife has found a place where it's $2.80 a gallon.
It's still cheaper than Ireland.

Killian

Gandhi

Ye lads missed the petrol party that was the late nineties. I remember paying 79 cents a gallon in New Jersey (and that was at a full-service station). Not surprisingly, the SUV craze really picked up steam around that time.

BEAT

YES.

Ruu_Old

BEAT wrote:

YES.

I take that as a no then?

BEAT

hehe

metrovelvet

Oh my god the winters are murder. All that darkness. I cry every evening from November until April.

And here in NYC petrol is at $3.50 a gallon. And go figure I see SUVs EVERYWHERE!

BEAT

call me crazy if you like, I prefer the weather in Ireland over the weather in suckazz Ohio.
I cant wait to be able to move back, ove of these days

Ruu_Old

Ah its getting nice and cool in IL right now, perfect. Now if it could have been this temperature all summer would be happy. 63F (around 17-18C) today, magnificent! I too miss the Irish weather and will be probably balling and crying when I have to return to the US in November.

BEAT

each time i come back I get that much closer to not getting on the plane and living in the airport until a means of funds becomes available :P

motormatic

Ruu wrote:

Am heading over in November and found tickets to be fairly reasonable, not sure how I am going to react to going back to the US when the trip is up.

i bet it's going to be hard. i came back to canada in may and it was so hard. my aunt dropped me off at knock to catch a flight to dublin and i just felt like i was leaving everything i loved behind me. then i cried my eyes out in dublin airport and slept the whole way back to toronto. now don't get me wrong, i love canada and toronto is a great city. i've lived here for a long time, but i feel like i'm only here by default. i moved here with my mother in the early '90s, i was too young to have a choice in the matter. as i get older i just want to return. mind you, as sad as i get when i leave, i don't think i could live there right now. there's nothing to do. i'm involved in so many things here and so busy that i think i'd go crazy in mayo. i suppose if i moved to dublin, though.............but that's just another big city.

when i was there in may, things had changed a LOT. it's even more expensive than it used to be and there are so many houses! all these giant ugly new houses popping up in the mayo and sligo countryside are really horrible. it's ok though. i just can't wait to go and relax on my aunts farm, smell peat and go to achill.

Ruu_Old

Yep my Mam mentioned to me that they are building no more houses in the town I used to live in (small town in Meath) am not looking forward to seeing all the houses built up ontop of each other but well things change.

justfortherecor

I've been living in Tokyo for the last seven months and am due to return to Ireland next week when my contract finishes. Not sure how I'll settle back, this place has opened my eyes to the massive world that exists outside my life in Galway/Ireland.

I think I will try and work abroad for my early career and get int'l experience, hopefully return home to Ireland when I get into a more senior position or something.

As with most things there are good and bad sides to it. At the moment I think tokyo is more enjoyable than my life back home but I'll wait to see how I view my irish lifestyle when I get back. Its a massive decision at the end of the day. Just 'heading out for a year or two' can quickly develop into a permanent life abroad.

Jimoslimos

Hmm....thats a tricky one, its where I grew up, spent 23 of my 25 years and where most of my friends/family are.

Reasons for staying abroad
I suppose living in London I haven't really considered myself to be far away (unlike those out in Aus/US/further afield). I'd see my family as often as I would living in Cork, Galway, etc.
The most important factor in moving back would be career. Since I work in R&D it seems highly unlikely that I'd get a similar job in Ireland with same/better earning potential or development/training that I get in the UK.
A visitor to any two towns throughout the UK would struggle to distuinguish between them such is the effect of having nearly every business chain-owned (pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, chemists, etc.). However every time I go back this seems increasingly to be the case in Ireland, why would I want to move back to live in a mini-Britain type town?
Intolerance/Racism - (Its pretty bad in England aswell) You can't keep banging on about the great Irish economy celtic tiger nonsense and expect people to only visit for a couple of weeks, spend lots of money and leave. I moved abroad for economic reasons, immigrants moved to Ireland for economic reasons - I'm as guilty as all the Poles in Dublin.
High cost of living - I'd consider London to be better value for money than Dublin, nuff said!

Reasons for moving back
Family
People ARE friendlier (in a genuine way)
I'm Irish

So all said and done I STILL want to move back sometime (despite the long list of cons)

dSTAR

I have grappled with this question myself like the OP. Like many ex pats I also read on this forum and various other online sources about the ugly side of Ireland with its anti-social louts, drunkenness, drugs, racism and numerous other problems becoming more and more prevalent and can honestly say you can have the place.

I live in a very well established area and am so far removed from that kind of stuff. I have a six year old as well as a two year and would never consider exposing them to the breed of thugs you seem to only get in Ireland. I would be even apprehensive taking them for a short trip to meet their grandparents. This eats me up inside because my eldest daughter talks about meeting her grandparents one day.

In ways it has made me resentful and embarrassed of that bleedin 'Oirish' mentality and its thick ways. I hate to say it but I think that Australians are more friendly and more open to others than Irish and would miss this place dearly if I was ever to leave.

I would fly half way round the world to see my family (that I haven't seen in years) but I reckon I'd only spend a weekend before wanting to visit mainland Europe which is a lot more interesting as well as safe!

Blackjack

Most certainly, for a huge number of reasons, where the positives of doing so at this stage far outweigh the negatives.

Captain Trips

I'll take this on, as someone who previously considered moving but time makes you grow up and appreciate things a bit.

Exit wrote:

I've been living in Canada for just over a year now (with back and forth trips over the previous 4 years), and just lately I cannot see myself moving back to Ireland to live.

Sure, it's good for a 2-3 week holiday to go back, and yes, there are things I miss about Ireland that aren't the same here, but Ireland, or more specifically Dublin, is a ****hole in my opinion.

Have you visited Connemara? Sligo? Donegal? Ring of Kerry? Gone mountain climbing and parachuting? Greater Dublin has a population more than Manhattan, and with it all the extermes of poverty and wealth. Chances are you lived in certain areas and socialised in certain other ones, withouth ever exploring the vast social wealth under the surface. I know people that live in Ballsbridge, and go out in Dawson street and say Dublin is too small. It's no different than living in knightsbridge and drinking in Soho. It is what you make it, and a lot of natives don;t make much of it IMHO.

I rarely visit Irish news sites, and have only recently started coming back here, but I keep hearing stories that make me hate the place. Reading the thread about the scumbags stoning the firemen, reading threads complaining about immigrants, and reading threads about general behavioural attitudes of people there have made me realise how better off life is here.

I understand where you are coming from. To me, I could equally judge Canada by news like:
http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=2481 - the anti-immigrant problems
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060904/firebombing_montreal_060904/20060904?hub=TopStories - the anti-semitic locals, a firebomb attack on a montreal jewish school just today

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060904.ELABOUR04/TPStory/Comment - the relatively higher unemployment of 6.4%, and goes up to over 14% in Labrador and Newfoundland.

http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/2006/09/02/1795204-sun.html - the war mongering Canadian tabloids, just like the US and UK ones

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_eco_fre-economy-economic-freedom, Ireland ranks 5th in the world for economic freedom (accoridng to Nationmaster) (Canada is 18th). OK so in ireland we live a little to the excess.

Recently, my Canadian woman expressed interest in one day living in Ireland (she's never been) and I keep thinking how a non-white person would be treated over there compared to here, and it makes me never want to ever go back to living there.

It will be what you make it to be. If you are the same person now that you were when you left, you will find the experience of living here again no different.

Does anyone else feel that after seeing the world, that Ireland just doesn't compare, and that the little things you miss aren't worth having to live there for them? Or am I the only one who feels this way?

I think there are many people who think like that, but IMHO it's themselves that need a change and not the country they are in. Travel is something that opens your eyes to other cultures and people, but if you maintain a rigid outlook when you get back it won't have done anything.

SharpshooterTom_79811

My parents were faced with this dilemma and eventually they did. The pair of them moved to Oxfordshire in 1983 and stayed there, during which time I was born, till 1987 until they moved to N.W.London.

They hadn't planned to stay in England for very long, 4-5 years at most, it was only because my dad couldn't get a job in his field that forced him to come to England in the first place. This problem persisted and so everytime he got promoted he had to apply elsewhere in England, so much so that after moving to another area in London and living there for 12 months, we moved to Ipswich in 1993 and stayed there for a further 8 years. After thousands of failed job applications in Ireland he finally got one in Omagh and moved here in december 2000.

So all in all they spent nearly 18 years in England, 14 of which I spent my life growing up in, mostly in Ipswich.

I guess I can turn this on it's head and say do I now miss England? Well I've lived here for almost 6 years now, and I do wonder sometimes if I should go back, but I don't have any relatives there, only for a few friends back in Ipswich, it's almost like England was a distant memory and I'd feel completely like a foreigner if I ever went back there, mainly due to the amount of time I've lived here now I suppose (even though I've still got an English accent like!)

eiretamicha

Yeppers.

darkman2

This thread comes across as an Ireland bashing session from those who seem ill-informed as to what the country is like today. First off every single complaint ive seen here from racism to antisocial behaviour to drug use is blown way out of proportion. Dublin has its good and bad areas like every other city on the planet. This country is still as beautiful as it ever was. This country is rich. Now we are trying to deal wth our problems. Ireland has a great quality of life (indeed its the best country in which to live in the world according to the economist!). Ireland has so many of the worlds top computer and pharmaceutical companies here that its referred to as 'the Silicon Valley of Europe'. We have made great progress in the last decade. I know ppl are far happier in this country today then they were 15 years ago. You cant argue with it. Its true. Ireland IMHO is far safer then most countries in the world. No-one living here has any illusions about the problems we have but the problems we have are no worse then any other country.

BEAT

darkman2 wrote:

This thread comes across as an Ireland bashing session from those who seem ill-informed as to what the country is like today. First off every single complaint ive seen here from racism to antisocial behaviour to drug use is blown way out of proportion. Dublin has its good and bad areas like every other city on the planet. This country is still as beautiful as it ever was. This country is rich. Now we are trying to deal wth our problems. Ireland has a great quality of life (indeed its the best country in which to live in the world according to the economist!). Ireland has so many of the worlds top computer and pharmaceutical companies here that its referred to as 'the Silicon Valley of Europe'. We have made great progress in the last decade. I know ppl are far happier in this country today then they were 15 years ago. You cant argue with it. Its true. Ireland IMHO is far safer then most countries in the world. No-one living here has any illusions about the problems we have but the problems we have are no worse then any other country.

This thread is not bashing Ireland in any form, (if it were I would have closed it) people here are sharing thier experiences and opinions. Many people moved away and like it and many moved away and miss it, plain and simple.
Perhaps you are reading too much into it.

motormatic

Ruu wrote:

Am heading over in November and found tickets to be fairly reasonable, not sure how I am going to react to going back to the US when the trip is up.

Bought my tickets today. $761 Canadian each inclusive of all taxes, and direct flights to Dublin, so that's not too bad. Could have got it slightly cheaper but would have had to sit in New Jersey all day and that's not anyone's idea of fun. I leave on the 5th of October, and I absolutely cannot wait!

The Sweeper

Okay, first, ALL OF YOU, this is not to turn into one of those threads where either Beat or I have to delete things and threaten to ban people etc.

If you think posters are bashing Ireland, then accept that they have the right to their opinion and DEFEND Ireland in response.


Did I see something in the Evening Herald last Wednesday about Ireland having the highest per capita debt in Europe? They cited some ridiculously huge figure in the billions. I mean, if that's the case, then no wonder everyone appears to be living the great life of Reilly - so would we all if it was planted on plastic.

Jimoslimos

Okay in response to the comments by darkman2 I'll accept that maybe I over-accentuated the negatives slightly. Still this is what I would do if I was considering moving back. If I wanted to do any kind of country-bashing I could write three times as much regarding the faults of my current location. However some of darkmans comments seem to be made through rose-tinted specs.

This country is rich.

Based on what evidence, wrapped up in the great Irish property market/bubble perhaps?

Ireland has so many of the worlds top computer and pharmaceutical companies here that its referred to as 'the Silicon Valley of Europe'

This statement annoys me; 1) Do you work in either of these two industries and 2) I hate the fact that all we aspire to be is an 'Irish' version of an American/foreign phenomenon.
I'd much rather we had a smaller native science and technology industry, less jobs perhaps but substantially more profits would stay in the country. Why do we have to get excited at the prospect of foreign industries setting up here? It saddens me that over on the Midlands board they're salivating at the prospect of a large British department chain-store opening in Athlone/Mullingar

I know ppl are far happier in this country today then they were 15 years ago. You cant argue with it.

No, I can't argue with it but it doesn't mean we should stop there and accept the faults at present. I'm sure 15 years ago people were saying "Sure aren't we a lot better off now than we were 15 years ago"

I'll stress again that I'm NOT bashing the country in any way, I enjoy visiting Ireland and would love to move back someday. When making an important decision its only natural that one would look at the negatives more closely than the positives.