Rathoath/Ashbourne or Dublin

Chicka82

We are trying to decide whether a move to Rathoath / Ashbourne would be a good one versus a move to Dublin. Currently we live in North Dublin in a small house which we have now outgrown and we both work in South Dublin. Currently it takes about 1.25 hours to get to work at busy times. Life can be stressful at times working in Dublin in demanding jobs with long hours.

Interested in hearing people’s thoughts and experiences. Moving to Rathoath /Ashbourne might mean relocating to a new job perhaps with shorter hours.

Would ideally like to live somewhere which provides the following:

Good quality of life
Safe for children
Access to good schools /childcare
Access to good amenities

The homes we have looked at are quite similar but with a 100k price difference. Going for the Dublin house means losing a tracker mortgage as loan repayments work out costing more as tracker port can only be made over life of existing mortgage 15 years. Meaning we have to borrow a higher amount at the higher rate. House in Ashbourne/Rsthoath means we can transfer tracker to new home and borrow a relatively small balance at higher rate. Financially makes sense but worried about being further away from friends and family.

Interested in people’s thoughts.

Losty Dublin

Can't help you with lifestyle but I can with the travel bit.

Ratoath is about 10-15 minutes drive from Ashbourne. Ratoath again is about 15 minutes from M3 parkway station. Depending on where you work you will be into the Dublin 1 area in about an hour peak time. Luas from Broombridge will help you as well.

Driving wise both towns are not too far from the M50 or you can get to the back of Lucan or Maynooth or Leixlip or Adamstown. As for how long it will take, well that's piece of string stuff depending on when or weather.

TheQuietFella

Two great areas and I gave some consideration to taking up residence there also. Great bus services also!

magicbastarder

if you're both working in south dublin and living northside, i am guessing you might be familiar with the issues with the M50, on the assumption you hope to keep your current jobs (and that you drive there)?

Zipppy

Working Southside might you not consider Lucan / leixkip area? Would help with commute...

Lord Glentoran

I’d plump for Rathoath over Ashbourne - quicker access to M3 Parkway Station, which has free parking.

Chicka82

Thanks for your replies! The more I see of it the more I like Rathoath. I have been driving out there the last while to check it out. Great with the train line, pity there is no bus from train to the village in Rathoath though.

Need to factor in schools also, St. Paul’s seems to have a good reputation. So that might be an option.

Would like to stay in Dublin beside family but with house prices the way they are at the moment, it makes more sense to live a little further out.

Zipppy

Chicka82 wrote:

Thanks for your replies! The more I see of it the more I like Rathoath. I have been driving out there the last while to check it out. Great with the train line, pity there is no bus from train to the village in Rathoath though.

I have friends living in Rathoath and they love it...

SmartinMartin

Try Dunboyne and Dunshaughlin as well.

mojesius

We moved to Ratoath a year ago and it's a nice area. Lovely people, good amenities, still retains a village feel to it. My only gripe with the area is that it's missing a decent park but st Catherine's or hill of Tara are 20 mins in the car.

I get the train to docklands. Between drive and train it takes an hour, then I've a 15 Min walk to the office. You'll get a seat inbound no bother from M3 station but going home can be a bit jammers. My husband drives to Dublin 10. Depending on traffic, he'll take m50 or back roads, usually 45 mins, bad days an hour. I heard that they're building another road near St Paul's to connect that side of Ratoath with the M3, so might make the 15 Min drive to the station quicker.

markpb

Chicka82 wrote: »

Currently we live in North Dublin in a small house which we have now outgrown and we both work in South Dublin. Currently it takes about 1.25 hours to get to work at busy times.

Maybe I'm missing something but you want to move *further* away from work?

schemingbohemia

Can you not do a split mortgage and port the tracker and get a top-up for the rest from the same bank?

CreativeSen

Lived in Ashbourne for a number of years, work in the city centre.

Started off commuting by bus, it was painful. Depending on where you are in Ashbourne and your proximity to the bus line, it was a 20 mins walk for me at 6.30am every morning to get to the bus stop. Then queue and wait for a bus that would be super busy, no guarantee of a seat. The journey in the morning always took an hour, i would snooze away. Then it would be either a long walk or cram on to an already overloaded Dublin Bus to finish the commute, all in all it would take 1.5 to 2 hours in the morning from closing the front door to my desk.

The journey home was worse. 30 mins walk to Beresford Place, pile into a bus, rarely get a seat and it would take at least 1.5 hours and then a 20 mins walk home. I was spending around 4 hours a day commuting, leaving at 6.30am and getting home around 8pm. Eat, shower, bed and do it again. I found that going for a pint after work would help as it would guarantee a seat on the bus on the way home as you would be going after rush hour. (Side note, I always thought a cafe/bar at Beresford Place would do well in the evening rush hour).

The Dublin Bus ticket was also expensive. I found it infuriating that you can get a Dublin Bus to Blessington or Greystones or Maynooth for a fraction of the cost of getting a Bus Eireann to Ashbourne.

Eventually, for my sanity, decided it would be easier to rent a parking space near the office and i traveled in and out by car. The journey times were the same but at least i had a seat and i wasn't stuck in a sardine can with fogged up windows and greasy poles to hold onto.

The commute was awful!

Left Ashbourne in 2012 and moved to the city, havent looked back. It may be an easier commute now, it may be a more cost effective commute now but I wouldnt go back.

schemingbohemia

Ashbourne has a new bus service the Ashbourne Connect since that time and it was scheduled to be a lot quicker than the BE service, so it should be a lot easier of a commute now.

conor_ie

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Ashbourne has a new bus service the Ashbourne Connect since that time and it was scheduled to be a lot quicker than the BE service, so it should be a lot easier of a commute now.

I've used both services and to be honest, there isn't much of a time saving. Whatever time you save by going straight down the M2 and up the M50, you'd lose it coming down by the Point Depot because 9 times out of 10, traffic around especially during peak times can be awful!

Cilar

We picked Ashbourne over Rataoth a few years back. Ashbourne has got more services. We can literally walk to 5 different supermarkets, shopping street and cinema. Bigger choice of schools as well.

Ashbourne has faster direct links to city centre than Rataoth: Ashbourne is 15 minutes closer to city centre by bus, and just next to N2.

horse7

Any problems with crime in rathoath, in particular Foxlodge?

Citrus_8

Why not Naas or Sallins then if working South? At least wouldn't need to pay for M50 toll.