Moving to Ennis

Nic74

Hi everyone, I'm a new forum member looking for some advice. I've been married to a Clare man for 10 years and we are moving back to Ennis next summer (I'm Scottish). We've been living in the Canary Islands for 20 years and have two wee daughters, one aged 2 and the other will be 4 in December. Both of them speak Spanish and I'd like them to continue with that. My husband has a daughter in Ennis and she said there are lots of Spanish speakers around town now, just wondered if this was right. Also, what's it like to live there? I've only visited Ennis a couple of times so haven't really seen much of the town so any advice you could offer me would be great. My eldest daughter would be starting school so school advice would be good and also nursery for my youngest. Anyway, I suppose I have lots of questions but that's just a start! Thanks for reading my post!!

Clareman

Hi,

Welcome to boards and the Clare forum

There are plenty of threads looking for lots of stuff on here already, use the search function and you'll find loads of good stuff. I don't know about any Spanish speakers around but others will be able to help out with that.

The National School in Ennis is having a new building built at the moment and it's due to be completed for next September so it's almost perfect time to be coming to Ennis.

Lady Chatterton

Welcome to Boards and to the Clare Forum, Nic 74

Here is a link to all registered Pre-schools in Ennis. http://www.clarechildcare.ie/list.asp?f_category=Sessional&f_area=Ennis

List of Primary Schools in Ennis

Ennis Educate Together, Gort Road, Ennis.
http://www.eetns.ie/

Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg, Gort Road, Ennis. (Irish speaking school).
http://www.gmci.ie/

Christian Brothers School, Lifford, Ennis.
http://www.cbsennis.com/

Holy Family Junior & Senior School, Station Road, Ennis.
http://www.hfss.org/

Ennis National School, Kilrush Road Ennis. (New school building under construction).
http://www.ennisns.ie/

Scoil Chriost Rí, Cloughleigh, Ennis.
http://www.criostri.com/

St. Anne’s School, St. Senan’s Road, Corrovorrin, Ennis. (Special Needs)
http://stannesennis.scoilnet.ie/blog/

St. Clares School, Gort Rd, Ennis. (Special Needs)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~stclareschool/


Other links


Ennis Town Council
http://www.ennistowncouncil.ie/

Clare County Council
http://www.clarecoco.ie/

Visit Ennis
http://www.visitennis.com/

Ennis Parish
http://www.ennisparish.com/about-ennis-town/

Clare County Library
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/index.htm

Ennis Town (Facebook)
http://www.facebook.com/ennistown

Clare Focus (provides information on a wide range of community and social activities in Ennis and Co. Clare.
http://www.clarefocus.ie/

Directory of clubs, societies and activities in Clare.
http://www.clarecoco.ie/recreation-culture/leisure-and-swimming/directory-of-clubs-and-activities/


Local news resources

Hopefully, these will give you a favour of what is going on in Ennis and in Co. Clare.

Clare FM
http://clare.fm/

The Clare People Newspaper
http://www.clarepeople.com/

The Clare Champion Newspaper
http://www.clarechampion.ie/

The Clare Herald
http://www.clareherald.com/

Clare Courier
http://www.clarecourier.ie/

Good Luck with your move to the Banner County

Nic74

Thank you for the info, it's been very helpful. It's a scary thought starting again but hopefully it's the right move. Another thing, does it really rain a lot?? That's going to be a shock to the system!

Lady Chatterton

Nic74 wrote: »

T Another thing, does it really rain a lot??

Yes, it does unfortunately

"Ireland would be a lovely little country, if only we could roof it"

Clareman

J@ysus MrsD that's some list of useful information, fair play to you.

Nic, yes it does rain, but there's some great variations in the rain, there can be a soft rain, a hard rain, a dirty rain, a wet rain, a damp rain, you'll have great fun noticing all the different types

Nic74

Thanks guys. Clareman you made me smile. Growing up in Central Scotland i had my fair share of rain but after 17 years in Tenerife I've kind of softened up still kids love puddles eh?! Just going to be a bit different playing in a puddle in the rain than a puddle in the sun! Is it easy to find work in Clare? Unemployment here in Tenerife is 34% so I'm guessing it's not as bad as that (read in Ireland unemployment was at 14.8%). My mam in law is in Ennis and is a big member of the community (or she was, she's 95 now) and my husband goes to visit her often so a move back is due now.

Lady Chatterton

Nic, The Citizens Information Website may be useful to you. It's an A to Z guide to living in Ireland.


Social Welfare
Employment
Family and Relationships
Housing
Education and Training
Money and Tax
Health
Justice
Moving Country
Death and Bereavement
Travel and Recreation
Government in Ireland
Consumer Affairs
Environment


http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/

Auldloon

Yes there are loads of Spanish speakers around Ennis and clare you will have no problem finding them.

Nic74

MrsD007, thank you, your posts are very helpful. I've been in touch with schools already but the Citizens Advice page is all very overwhelming!! If I could find the "thanks" button I would give you a thumbs up but I can't find it anywhere!

Are there many jobs about in Clare? I don't mind travelling and will do anything (within reason lol) so any info would be good!

Thanks again everyone!

Lady Chatterton

You're very welcome, no thanks required!

Getting a job could be the tricky part I'm afraid. Here are some job websites, I'm not sure how good they are but here you go:

http://www.fas.ie/en/Job+Seeker/Jobs+Ireland/default.htm
http://www.jobs.ie/
http://www.irishjobs.ie/
http://www.recruitireland.com/
http://jobsinireland.org/
http://www.bestjobs.ie/
http://www.monster.ie/
http://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/
http://www.jobfinder.ie/
http://www.cpl.ie/

Keep an eye on the local newspapers too when you arrive in Ennis.

Balagan

Nic74 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm a new forum member looking for some advice. I've been married to a Clare man for 10 years and we are moving back to Ennis next summer (I'm Scottish). We've been living in the Canary Islands for 20 years and have two wee daughters, one aged 2 and the other will be 4 in December. Both of them speak Spanish and I'd like them to continue with that. My husband has a daughter in Ennis and she said there are lots of Spanish speakers around town now, just wondered if this was right. Also, what's it like to live there? I've only visited Ennis a couple of times so haven't really seen much of the town so any advice you could offer me would be great. My eldest daughter would be starting school so school advice would be good and also nursery for my youngest. Anyway, I suppose I have lots of questions but that's just a start! Thanks for reading my post!!

If you can afford to do so, it would be best to come to Ennis for a very focused fact-finding trip as being here with a view to moving home is very different than coming on a holiday and you may find that it will smooth your way and bring you up to date on the job situation here as well as places to live, schools for the kids etc.

Off the top of my head, unless you have a lot of savings, have a pension and/or one of you has a job lined up already, it would be imperative that you both understand what the situation presently is here with regard to unemployment supports etc., and how one qualifies for them. Your husband is from here and you are from an EU country so of course you have a right to live here but should you need unemployment assistance payments, you will have to prove that Ireland is what they call your 'main centre of interest'. A significant amount of Irish people who have returned have fallen between two stools if they run out of money before they can get a job and have to claim unemployment assistance and find out that Ireland is not considered their 'main centre of interest' because they have retained savings and/or property and business interests in the country they have been living in. Some get caught in the situation where they were unable to sell property abroad before they left there but now find that they are tied by that property and seen as having a main centre of interest still in the other country. Also that property will be assessed in full in their means test should they be applying for social assistance payments http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test.html

I am not asking for any info on your situation. There is another site on boards.ie named State Benefits and that may prove very helpful to you as specific questions can be answered on these issues. You have already been given a lot of helpful links by other posters. This document link http://www.ciic-usa.org/news_fromireland.html is very informative. It is prepared for Irish people returning to Ireland from the US but the information is spot on for Irish people returning here from any country and sets the info out clearly, especially with regard to the steps you need to take before you leave your present country and the documentation you will need to produce here. Wishing you and your family all the very best and a smooth transition.