Portlaoise Commute

Culchies

Hi all,

Our families are currently living in Portlaoise as they are from the area.
Currently we live in Dublin in a house we purchased at a good price a few years ago :cool:. We both work in Dublin, I have a 45 minute each way walk to work and my wife has an hour journey (bus and walk to south Dublin) :eek:.
We have been considering putting our house up for sale. We would be able to pay off our mortgage in full and buy a house in Portlaoise. We would only consider a well established and mature location in Portlaoise.

My wife would give up her job in south Dublin and possibly get a part time job in Portlaoise. We have a new baby and do not like the idea of giving 1000 p/m to a crèche. We do not like the idea of rushing to the crèche, child getting sick etc. We have heard some upsetting stories. We would consider au pairs, do ppl have an opinion on this?

What is the train / bus commute like? Are there seats from Plaoise? Is it reliable? From Ploaise to IFSC would you recommend train / bus? How long does the total journey take? We would be buying a house in a good location in Plaoise. We would have a lot of help from family regarding babysitting etc that we do not have in Dublin . We like the idea of our children growing up in country and attending a small school as we did. Our children would love seeing their relations and vice versa more often. I know the price of the train but a recent pay rise would offset this and I would get the tax saver.

The only con we really have is the commute. Is it that bad? I think I would like the chill out time watching the Ipad,etc I estimate the journey taking 1hr 15 from Plaoise to IFSC. Is it worth the benefit for the family?

All constructive advice welcome from ppl with similar circumstances.

Thanks The Culchies.

Stheno

I commuted from Portlaoise to Dublin city centre from 2000 - 2007

There is a very good bus service from Mountmellick that goes once a day each way so it's restricted, and then you have the train.

Both are extremely limited, if you have to do any overtime you'll have to make alternative arrangements and you can happily add at least an extra half an hour EACH way to your estimates time wise assuming no delays.

Bus means a fair walk to the IFSC, train means the Luas also, it can be very expensive.

Mrs OBumble

I've moved this from Work and Jobs to Commuting and Transport, 'cos your questions sound more like about commuting than anything else.

If that's not ok, report the post and ask the mods there to move it back.



That said, the only observation I can offer is work related: how stable is your job? What would be the consequences if you lost it?

ProudDUB

What is the employment market like in Portlaoise? How easy/hard will it be for your wife to get a part time job? Will her not having one, or going a while before she gets one, make a big difference to the family finances? In this day and age, you can't presume that she will just walk into a job, especially if she needs it to fit into her family commitments. Do you have any friends or family with a business that she could help out in that regard?

I don't mean to scaremonger, but this isn't the first time that I have seen topics started by people looking for advice on the Dublin/Portlaoise commute. They have no choice but to work in Dublin, as they can't find any work in Portlaoise.

Culchies

Thanks for all reply's. My job is secure I hope. If I did lose my job our situation would almost be worse in Dublin because we have a Mortgage and my wife earns less than me. She has not got any pay rise/bonus/ improvement in her job in over 6 years. She understands she will have to take a low paid job in Plaoise, maybe retail. She won't be able to continue in her current career. We are just trying to think about our future and decide what would be best for our family.

richiek83

Culchies wrote: »

Thanks for all reply's. My job is secure I hope. If I did lose my job our situation would almost be worse in Dublin because we have a Mortgage and my wife earns less than me. She has not got any pay rise/bonus/ improvement in her job in over 6 years. She understands she will have to take a low paid job in Plaoise, maybe retail. She won't be able to continue in her current career. We are just trying to think about our future and decide what would be best for our family.

Hi Culchie.

I can advise you in respect of the commute. The train service and times is relatively good from/ to Portlaoise and Dublin. If you were to do this, you will need to consider the cost of train ticket (taxsaver will save you a little) and length of time for commute. You would be best off getting one of the direct trains that have limited stops. That could cut your commute by up to 20 minutes. You could potentially be looking at a train commute of somewhere between 70-90 minutes to the IFSC commuting by train. I commute from Newbridge and always get a seat so I don't think getting a seat will be a problem for you.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

boobar

Here's my view of the positives.

You'll most likely get a good price for the house in Dublin.
You'll most likely pick up a cracking house for a much lower price in Portlaoise.
Your wife will have more time with the wee baby.
Great to have family close by to give a dig out.
Fairly good train service from Portlaoise.
Friends have an au pair and it works great for them.
Recent pay rise would cover the extra travel cost.
No creche fees.

The negatives
Less job opportunities in Portlaoise for your wife
The strain of commuting and it can be hard. I've commuted from Navan to Dublin, Tullamore to Dublin, it's doable but it's early to bed, early to rise, quite tiring as well.

Some suggestions
Would your work allow you ework 1 or 2 days from home.
Can you perhaps do some of your work on the train and finish earlier.
Can you look into some parental leave so that you can get some family time as well?
Before you commit to buying in Portlaoise and selling in Dublin, could you rent and give it trial period?

Some observations based on own experience
I moved to the midlands and took a job down here as did my wife. We feel the quality of life is great, but we've accepted that we won't have the career opportunities that the city can offer. We're happy enough to accept it, now that we have a little girl, so we think of her first and then career and everything else second. We found it easy to make this decision. Some people regret it. It is possible to have a balance, I suppose.