Moving back to Ireland?

Tim2012

Can someone offer constructive honest guidance.
We are Irish Citizens that previously lived in County Galway, I was offered a work Visa in Australia and we as a family of four came over here approx one year ago. My wife and 17 year old son wish to return but my daughter of 10 years old has mixed feelings as they all miss 'Home, in Ireland'.
I have a 4 year contract here in Australia with an option to renew and my wife wants to go back to Ireland.
I do not believe in stopping anyone from doing what they wish, however if going back to Ireland will not be of benefit or could cause them hardships, I would like to know as after all, moving back with no secured job to go to and or maybe expecting the Welfare System to support her worries me.
Please offer honest opinions and guidance as I do not wish my wife and kids to make a bad mistake.

Sleepy

It all depends on your respective industries tbh: if you're a .NET/JAVA developer with a decade's experience you shouldn't struggle to get employment. If you're a tradesman / retail manager / architect / solicitor you'll effectively be coming home to sign on.

Tim2012

Sleepy wrote: »

It all depends on your respective industries tbh: if you're a .NET/JAVA developer with a decade's experience you shouldn't struggle to get employment. If you're a tradesman / retail manager / architect / solicitor you'll effectively be coming home to sign on.

Well if that is the case my family may then be forced to do that.

Sleepy

Sounds like a stupid move to me then. One thing to make sure of is that you'll actually be entitled to welfare here: you say you only left a year ago but it might be worth investigating whether you've enough PRSI contributions made to be entitled to JSB.

zielarz

Tim2012, it's just me but I would never leave a job and apply for a dole. That would be just setting a bad example for my son. If you want to come back, then find a job first.

The Corinthian

To begin with you or your wife would fail the habitual residency criteria, to qualify for any social assistance until you're resident in Ireland for six months. As such, you'll not only need the money to go back, but to financially support yourselves for at least six months.

My attitude to these sorts of situations is that life isn't perfect. She may not like Australia, but you've got a job a roof over your heads, while in Ireland you'll not really have either (relatives and savings aside) - so it's better to suck it up and just make the best of a bad situation. So unless she wants to get a job, to help deal with the financial shortfall, she's making an unfair demand of you.

carpejugulum

Time to explain to your son that money doesn't just pop up in his parents' wallets.

old hippy

This is tragic. Tim, you've got a good thing in Australia - lots of people would give their right arm for. Stick with it.

I'm sorry but I just don't get this "homesick" thing that I've encountered amongst so many Irish people.

HomeBuyer

Don't do it.

Boombastic

If I was you I would stay were I was. If you do decide to come back to Ireland don't do it unless you have employment sorted.

You son is nearly 18. When he is, he is free to come here and work if he so chooses. Your wife is unhappy, but would she be happy at home in Ireland, living off the social?

nice_guy80

plenty of work in Ireland if you can find it and have the right qualifications and experience (key)

too many negative people around here

road_high

Need to honestly evaluate your job options in Ireland if you're serious re coming home. Look at what key skills you have and see what's here. If there's nothing and you still want/need to come back then looking at re-training of some sort maybe something you have to consider.
Would echo the advice of others, coming back to sign on long term is not a good idea.

Scortho

nice_guy80 wrote: »

plenty of work in Ireland if you can find it and have the right qualifications and experience (key)

too many negative people around here

I'd agree with this. But as pointed out if the op is a tradesman it's not really worthwhile.
It all depends on what he's qualified to do.
If it was me, I'd be in the lookout (through family, friends and relatives) for work in my profession and once that's found then come back.

Suppose he finds work in Donegal, but all his wife's friends and family are in cork?
I'd rather be living together in Australia with my gf, than living at opposite ends of the country to each other.

Scrag

Do you know the story of the bird who froze and fell to the ground and was almost dead until a cow **** on it and the warmth
revived it

old hippy

nice_guy80 wrote: »

plenty of work in Ireland if you can find it and have the right qualifications and experience (key)

too many negative people around here

Negativity is in the eye of the beholder. I'd say it's a brave and positive move going out to Australia and the negativity is all this homesick bobbins people trot out. INHO, of course.

nice_guy80

shortage of tradesmen in the country at the moment - few friends are tradesmen and they are flat out. money not as good as back in the day but they are working

some builders doing a lot of work - small jobs such as renovations and extensions.
cannot get good chippies, plumbers and sparkies.

Mr.Wemmick

One year isn't very long and I can understand the homesickness.. What are your wife and son doing to help integrate? Have they joined any clubs, got involved in any community activities? They obviously haven't settled into life there, which is a pity..

You could try and persuade them to stay longer and wait to see if things improve in Ireland before coming home. Could you/your wife re- train to help to broaden your chances to get work in Ireland in the long run?

I have lived in Europe for years (moved back last year) and I can say that one year is too short a time to make a decision to move again. Give it time and if they still want to move back in another year, then, as a family, have a think again..

Voltex

Australia is a funny country..its a bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. Its a weird combo of British and American culture and for some people its hard to settle into. Irelands not really that bad so long as you have relevant skills. Iv spent the last 5 years gaining diplomas, degrees and now masters and tbh life is not too bad. I lived and worked in the UK, Switzerland and Australia and tbh Im much happier bringing up my family here.

I loved Oz...but I don't think I would like to have stayed there long term..Christmas out there is a shocker and very hard to get your head round.

n97 mini

Sleepy is actually right. The IT industry here is generally in good health. If your son gets an IT qualification in Oz (or study here, but that costs $$$), he could return here and probably get a job without any great difficulty, especially as a graduate. And maybe even in Galway, though there are 100 times more IT jobs in Dublin.

As for his parents. If you're willing to retrain and possibly live in the greater Dublin area, it might work for you too. You don't say what your occupation is?

_Kaiser_

old hippy wrote: »

This is tragic. Tim, you've got a good thing in Australia - lots of people would give their right arm for. Stick with it.

I'm sorry but I just don't get this "homesick" thing that I've encountered amongst so many Irish people.

+1... I too genuinely don't understand this inability many Irish have of leaving mammy/town/county/country and standing on their own two feet and making their own way in the world. Every week there's a thread like this on this site where someone asks what the options are for coming home while contemplating throwing in a damn good opportunity in the process!

I mean, what's to come home to.. the place is still the same backwards, corrupt, parochial, bankrupt little backwater it's always been - if anything it seems like it's more blatantly so in the last few years.

I don't know how much local news you've kept up with OP, but have a look through any of the major news sites or even this forum and you'll see that:

- Most people are still worse off, not better
- Unemployment is still sky high and domestic economy is still in the toilet
- There may be jobs in IT but there's a lot of people vying for them too, and what will you be left with by the time all the deductions and charges are taken out?
- The Property Tax that Enda said (whilst in opposition of course) he'd never introduce is about to be taken directly from people's wages if they haven't already coughed up
- Rents are on the increase and family homes in short supply in areas of demand while NAMA and the banks sit on property where people have already defaulted/been bailed out, or are hoping for a write-off... though that's about to change as the banks start repossessing in earnest
- Cost of everything is still only going up regardless of all the above (fuel, groceries, public transport etc)
- Another Austerity Budget, Water Charges and the Broadcasting Tax are all on the way too
- The Anglo Tapes have shown how systemic the problems in this country are (as if the dogs in the street didn't know this already) yet no-one has or will see a jail cell several years on
- etc, etc etc....

Honestly OP, you should be thanking your lucky stars you got yourself and your family out when you did and you would be absolutely insane to throw that away to come back to this country.. were it not for my own circumstances I'd be following you!

By all means come home for a visit (The Gathering crowd will love that as long as you bring plenty of cash/credit cards) but again, you would be crazy to move back here in the current climate.. and certainly because of something like "homesickness".

breadmonkey

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

... and certainly because of something like "homesickness".

It's easy to say that when you're living in Ireland steeped in all of the bullsh*t you outlined in your post. If you were to move away for a few years and take a step back from that you might start to appreciate aspects of Irish culture that you simply will not find anywhere else in the world.

I've been away for about three years and have no plans to return any time soon. I also would not advise the OP to return. Having said that, I can fully see how people get homesick despite apparently having a good thing going. Financial stability in a new country is all well and good but the price can be high.

It's a trade-off and you and the OP are on different sides. Everything else being equal, imagine living on the other side of the world away from all of your friends and family. What would you give up to get that back?

I still think moving back would be crazy (the trade is not equal) but I see where he's coming from and it's a bit naive to dismiss the thought outright. IMO

tinyk68

As a lot of people have already said you need to be pretty sure of a job here before you make the decision to come back. My hubby is an electrician and in 2011 the company he worked for closed overnight leaving him unemployed and with no notice or redundancy. At the time we seriously considered leaving the country but we have two teenage children who didn't want to go. So we stuck it out. Hubby spent a year self employed but couldn't earn enough to make ends meet and ended up taking a job offer one hundred miles from home. He now lives away from home Monday to Friday and it's very hard for all of us. I'm pretty much a single parent and he lives on canteen food. Our eldest is now going into leaving cert year and fully intends leaving Ireland at the first opportunity so we'll be left behind until the second one finishes his education. It is possible to find work here but not always where you want to live. I would much rather be together in Australia than apart in Ireland. That's a lonely way to live.:(

_Kaiser_

breadmonkey wrote: »

It's easy to say that when you're living in Ireland steeped in all of the bullsh*t you outlined in your post. If you were to move away for a few years and take a step back from that you might start to appreciate aspects of Irish culture that you simply will not find anywhere else in the world.

I've been away for about three years and have no plans to return any time soon. I also would not advise the OP to return. Having said that, I can fully see how people get homesick despite apparently having a good thing going. Financial stability in a new country is all well and good but the price can be high.

It's a trade-off and you and the OP are on different sides. Everything else being equal, imagine living on the other side of the world away from all of your friends and family. What would you give up to get that back?

I still think moving back would be crazy (the trade is not equal) but I see where he's coming from and it's a bit naive to dismiss the thought outright. IMO

Maybe I see it differently as my family did actually move away for a few years when I was younger and we got on just fine - were it not for my mam becoming ill and worrying about what might happen to us if the worst happened we might still be there.

I'm not sure what "culture" there is to miss unless you're referring to the pub-obsessed, stroke-loving, cute-hoor worshipping, "ah shure it'll be grand"/"it depends who you know"/keeping up with the Joneses (now replaced by the "what are they getting away with that I'm not") carry-on that makes it impossible to get anything done?

Nowadays I still don't think I'd be missing much (aside from the above mentioned shite) - most of my friends are married/settled and living all over the place and we rarely see each other anyway. My family in general isn't very close, so were it not for my own circumstances I'd happily leave this place behind and never look back.

breadmonkey

I'm not sure what "culture" there is to miss unless you're referring to the pub-obsessed, stroke-loving, cute-hoor worshipping, "ah shure it'll be grand"/"it depends who you know"/keeping up with the Joneses (now replaced by the "what are they getting away with that I'm not") carry-on that makes it impossible to get anything done?

No that's not what I mean but I hate that crap as well. I was suggesting that it's necessary to step away for a while to see through/around that. But we're kind of going OT here. I actually agree with almost everything you've said except the idea that "homesickness" is somehow incomprehensible.

Nowadays I still don't think I'd be missing much (aside from the above mentioned shite) - most of my friends are married/settled and living all over the place and we rarely see each other anyway. My family in general isn't very close, so were it not for my own circumstances I'd happily leave this place behind and never look back.

OK that's fair enough but it's not reasonable to take your own situation and apply it broad brush to everyone.

_Kaiser_

breadmonkey wrote: »

OK that's fair enough but it's not reasonable to take your own situation and apply it broad brush to everyone.

Granted, but in this case it seems the OP's (family's) sole motivation and from his reply to Sleepy (3rd post) suggests that it may mean them giving up a decent life and opportunity in Oz to come back here and sit on the dole.

Homesick or not, there are some realities which have to take precedence and I'd agree with carpejugulum that sometimes we have to do things that we don't like/aren't ideal in order to put food on the table and pay the bills.

Of course this is again the wrong country to say such things in as many of us don't "do" responsibility (strategic mortgage defaulting for example, "how can I get out of this speeding ticket" is another).

You make your choices and you make the best of them.. sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you have to wait/work harder for it - that's what being an adult is all about.

periodictable

Don't come near the place. It's effectively one huge welfare state, with most of the population getting a cash "entitlement" or payment of one sort or another, hence their reluctance to protest the rape of the state by those in power.
The politicians are of the same mentality, just different snouts in the trough.
Law and order is a problem-remember the 1980s?
Wait until you can take out citizenship if possible, then try coming back if you wish. I emigrated to the US in the 80s, became a citizen, came back late 90s, and have a good income. I'm fine but leave quite regularly just to keep sane and get a perspective on life. I advise any young Irish to clear out-Ireland sadly is a failed state and we'd be better off either being the 51st state or an integral part of the UK.

lufties

I currently live in hong kong and wrestle with homesickness, lately more than ever for some reason, its strange, but at the moment I miss an awful lot about home. I guess you appreciate you're home more when overseas.

The Corinthian

breadmonkey wrote: »

It's easy to say that when you're living in Ireland steeped in all of the bullsh*t you outlined in your post. If you were to move away for a few years and take a step back from that you might start to appreciate aspects of Irish culture that you simply will not find anywhere else in the world.

I've been away for five years.

Certainly there are things you miss about home; notably family and friends, but my experience of expats is that homesickness affects those who refuse to make an effort to integrate or make new friends, a lot more. Making an effort is very important when you start a life elsewhere and I'm often amazed at how some Irish (the British are worse) expats complain about these things, even though it's clear that they make absolutely no effort to do something about it.

I've seen this issue many times and can say that it really comes down to lack of effort and an inability to open one's mind to different ways of doing things. You'll always miss home, but actually building a life in your adopted country makes a huge difference.

In the OP's (who seems long gone from this discussion) situation, he has no job lined up in Ireland, would have to cover the cost of returning and would not be able to get any social welfare upon his return for at least six months.

It's also principally his wife who wants to return, and this is not unusual with expat couples where one stays at home; they tend to be more isolated (not having a work environment to socialize in) and also tend not to consider the financial consequences of relocation, because that's someone else's problem. He should ask his wife if she's willing to get a job to make up for the shortfall, and this may bring the reality home to her.

Overall, I'd strongly advise the OP to remain in Australia. Returning to Ireland will be financially disastrous for him and his family. Instead, I'd recommend he and his wife make a greater effort to integrate and make new friends; ideally avoiding expats (because many won't stay more than a few years). They're in an Anglophone nation so it's not like there's a major chasm between our and their culture and language - imagine the effort involved if you lived in Russia or Singapore.

cakeisgood

I would strongly advice the OP to stay in Austrailia unless he can arrange to have a job to come home to. Unemployment is rife but yet immigrants are still coming in, so with people coming in, and so few jobs, it is harder then ever to find employment. Competition even for basic paid jobs is intense. So few businesses want to hire people as the economy is so unstable. Schemes like CE and Jobsbridge are also a deterrent for companies to employ people as why pay when you can get it for free? Also, for the lucky ones who do have jobs, they are being taxed to the limit but yet the cost of living keeps going up. There are people who have been unwillingly unemployed for years now.

Tea drinker

The Corinthian wrote: »

Overall, I'd strongly advise the OP to remain in Australia. Returning to Ireland will be financially disastrous for him and his family. Instead, I'd recommend he and his wife make a greater effort to integrate and make new friends; ideally avoiding expats (because many won't stay more than a few years). They're in an Anglophone nation so it's not like there's a major chasm between our and their culture and language - imagine the effort involved if you lived in Russia or Singapore.

We lived in Morocco fr 2 1/2 years, wouldn't say it was all plain sailing, but we made the best of it and had some great experiences.

As regards OP situation, it seems familiar. I now a chap here in Ireland who does all work, all cooking, takes care of the kids. Wife is sterotypical lazy Irish girl. They aren't all like that of course, but they seem to get away with it, wihout a spade getting called a spade as such.

Idbatterim

- Most people are still worse off, not better
- Unemployment is still sky high and domestic economy is still in the toilet
- There may be jobs in IT but there's a lot of people vying for them too, and what will you be left with by the time all the deductions and charges are taken out?
- The Property Tax that Enda said (whilst in opposition of course) he'd never introduce is about to be taken directly from people's wages if they haven't already coughed up
- Rents are on the increase and family homes in short supply in areas of demand while NAMA and the banks sit on property where people have already defaulted/been bailed out, or are hoping for a write-off... though that's about to change as the banks start repossessing in earnest
- Cost of everything is still only going up regardless of all the above (fuel, groceries, public transport etc)
- Another Austerity Budget, Water Charges and the Broadcasting Tax are all on the way too
- The Anglo Tapes have shown how systemic the problems in this country are (as if the dogs in the street didn't know this already) yet no-one has or will see a jail cell several years on
- etc, etc etc....

these are definetly the glass half empty views, let me play devils advocate!

- Most people are still worse off, not better

(for most this is true BUT this is coming from a time where even your average joe soap was living the high life, the standard of living is still very high)

- Unemployment is still sky high and domestic economy is still in the toilet

Unemployment is high, but not what I would call sky high, i.e. the 25% area like spain and greece, also unemployment has been falling and is at its lowest levels in quite some time...

- There may be jobs in IT but there's a lot of people vying for them too, and what will you be left with by the time all the deductions and charges are taken out?

Seeing as we dont know what field you are in, I wont elaborate on this point.

- The Property Tax that Enda said (whilst in opposition of course) he'd never introduce is about to be taken directly from people's wages if they haven't already coughed up

If they dont get it through the property tax, they will get it from cuts or increases somewhere else, its a zero sum game. Deducting it from source I 100% agree with. For once they get something right, with no messing around and people take issue with it?....

- Rents are on the increase and family homes in short supply in areas of demand while NAMA and the banks sit on property where people have already defaulted/been bailed out, or are hoping for a write-off... though that's about to change as the banks start repossessing in earnest

I agree with the rent increases, at least certainly where Im living in Dublin. The Nama thing is pretty complex...

- Cost of everything is still only going up regardless of all the above (fuel, groceries, public transport etc)

this would apply to everywhere Id imagine

- Another Austerity Budget, Water Charges and the Broadcasting Tax are all on the way too -

Yes, but I think its only one more austere budget after this, there is light at the end of the tunnel

- The Anglo Tapes have shown how systemic the problems in this country are (as if the dogs in the street didn't know this already) yet no-one has or will see a jail cell several years on
- etc, etc etc....

Agree with this to be honest...