Life in Clare

Wompa1

Hey Guys,

I'm originally from Galway. I've been living in Arizona over in the states for the last 3.5 years. I'm starting to think about where I'd like to settle down in. Clare has long been my favorite part of Ireland but the job scene isn't that strong for me, there.

That aside. I'd love to hear from people living there about the Pros and the Cons. I have my own assumptions but of course, having never lived there they are just wild assumptions.

I'd guess:

Pros
Beautiful scenery
Many great places to hike and go walking
Great place for cycling
Close to Shannon Airport
Right now, property is cheaper than many other parts of Ireland
I'd bet smaller communities with small schools mean a good, focused education due to less students per teacher
It's pretty safe compared to other parts of the country and world

Cons
Many, many isolated rural parts so on cold, icy mornings, driving can be extra risky compared to the likes of Galway which gets salted regularly
Very little choice for jobs
Not much choice for live music, restaurants, shops etc. requires going to Limerick or Galway

Clareman

Hi Wompa1,

Great to hear you are considering Clare, it's a fairly big area, have you any idea of roughly where you would like to go? Personally I would recommend being around Ennis/Newmarket/Quinn as it'll be close to the airport and the main motorway, this will negate your issues with the driving issues and choices for shopping and restaurants. I would recommend renting a place first, maybe evening staying in a B&B/Hotel for a while to help you to get the know the place a bit better and to form an opinion of it.

In regards to jobs, I don't know what career you are in, but your mantra should be "I only need 1 job", there's definitely a pick up in jobs around, check out the Indeed app and setup a search for it, that'll give you an idea of the jobs that are around.

Personally, I work in IT and have noticed plenty of opportunties within an hour's commute from my home, there's also the added benefit of having 2 major universities close by along with a number of ITs in case you want to further your own studies.

Wompa1

Clareman wrote: »

Hi Wompa1,

Great to hear you are considering Clare, it's a fairly big area, have you any idea of roughly where you would like to go? Personally I would recommend being around Ennis/Newmarket/Quinn as it'll be close to the airport and the main motorway, this will negate your issues with the driving issues and choices for shopping and restaurants. I would recommend renting a place first, maybe evening staying in a B&B/Hotel for a while to help you to get the know the place a bit better and to form an opinion of it.

In regards to jobs, I don't know what career you are in, but your mantra should be "I only need 1 job", there's definitely a pick up in jobs around, check out the Indeed app and setup a search for it, that'll give you an idea of the jobs that are around.

Personally, I work in IT and have noticed plenty of opportunties within an hour's commute from my home, there's also the added benefit of having 2 major universities close by along with a number of ITs in case you want to further your own studies.

Indeed wasn't very big when I was there! That's good to know, thanks! I also work in IT. Virtualization, Application and Desktop virtualization, mostly. Being a dreamer, I had these notions of living close to Milltown Malbay but the commute to either city might be a little drastic, when I lived in Ireland, Ennis didn't have too much going on. It would be a handy spot if Ennis has started to grow.

My fiance currently works in the mental health field, she'd like to do Medicine, so I'm encouraging her to come along to Ireland and do it there, it's a lot cheaper and I believe she could do it in NUIG or UL, if she wanted.

I would definitely rent first. The real test would be for my fiance, she has grown up in a place with 24 hour conveniences, the oldest building here is a theatre that's about 80 years old.

Clareman

Wompa1 wrote: »

Indeed wasn't very big when I was there! That's good to know, thanks! I also work in IT. Virtualization, Application and Desktop virtualization, mostly. Being a dreamer, I had these notions of living close to Milltown Malbay but the commute to either city might be a little drastic, when I lived in Ireland, Ennis didn't have too much going on. It would be a handy spot if Ennis has started to grow.

Milltown is ~30 minutes from Ennis, so you've have an hour(ish) to Limerick, you could take the coast road to Galway, so an hour(ish) to Galway as well, I wouldn't fancy that drive every day to be honest, terrible roads.
There's lots of companies doing that kind of work nearby, off the top of my head Intel (Shannon), Dell (Limerick), Cisco and SAP (Galway) are doing work on that.

Wompa1 wrote: »

My fiance currently works in the mental health field, she'd like to do Medicine, so I'm encouraging her to come along to Ireland and do it there, it's a lot cheaper and I believe she could do it in NUIG or UL, if she wanted.

UL are having a massive push for US students, I believe it's cheaper to study in UL for American's than a lot of US based schools.

Wompa1 wrote: »

I would definitely rent first. The real test would be for my fiance, she has grown up in a place with 24 hour conveniences, the oldest building here is a theatre that's about 80 years old.

She's in for a shock

Jim Martin

7 years ago, the then Shannon
Development organisation built an 'E-Town' in Miltown Malbay, Co.Clare, the idea of the concept being that people working in the IT field who wanted to set up their own business would live & work in the same building on the West coast. They would have the advantages of a high quality lifestyle because of the location & the convenience of living & working in the same location without the stress & expensive travelling associated with a city - but it was all dependent on good telecommunications being available! Whether the latter was the problem, I don't know, but the scheme never took off, even after the buildings were on offer at half the original value! The concept was a brilliant one & it would be interesting to know why it failed (the recession could be one reason, of course)!

http://http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/value-of-ghost-e-towns-reduced-by-over-2m-124906.html

http://http://findahome.ie/463434/etown_Miltown_Malbay_Clare

Johnboy1951

Jim Martin wrote: »

7 years ago, the then Shannon
Development organisation built an 'E-Town' in Miltown Malbay, Co.Clare, the idea of the concept being that people working in the IT field who wanted to set up their own business would live & work in the same building on the West coast. They would have the advantages of a high quality lifestyle because of the location & the convenience of living & working in the same location without the stress & expensive travelling associated with a city - but it was all dependent on good telecommunications being available! Whether the latter was the problem, I don't know, but the scheme never took off, even after the buildings were on offer at half the original value! The concept was a brilliant one & it would be interesting to know why it failed (the recession could be one reason, of course)!

http://http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/value-of-ghost-e-towns-reduced-by-over-2m-124906.html

http://http://findahome.ie/463434/etown_Miltown_Malbay_Clare

Neither link worked for me

Ah! Malformed links!


www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/value-of-ghost-e-towns-reduced-by-over-2m-124906.html
http://findahome.ie/463434/etown_Miltown_Malbay_Clare

Wompa1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Neither link worked for me

Ah! Malformed links!


www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/value-of-ghost-e-towns-reduced-by-over-2m-124906.html
http://findahome.ie/463434/etown_Miltown_Malbay_Clare

yip, double http://

Jim Martin

Sorry about that folks - hadn't noticed the double http!

Wompa1

Jim Martin wrote: »

Sorry about that folks - hadn't noticed the double http!

No problem, I'd love to know how much they are going for, I might throw them an e-mail. Usually when I e-mail a relator, they never respond but here's hoping!