Canadian family moving to Ireland 2023 - Best town for young outdoorsy family (2+2 small kids)?

If being within 90mins of Dublin or Shannon airport is criteria then you have a massive choice. Obviously west coast probably you'll get more bang for your buck house wise (I live 30mins from Shannon airport and I paid <€320k for a 3500sqft house in west clare for instance).

Prices in any town over 5000 will be that little bit higher than leaving in a rural village.

The population number you give means you're only ruling out Dublin and Cork cities!

Larger towns with lots of amenities within your 90 mins to Shannon would be Galway, Limerick and Ennis. But between 5-20k population that meets your other criteria there must 10's of towns if not 100+.

I'd recommend you come up with some other criteria you'd like to try and narrow that list down a bit!

I don't think there's anywhere in Ireland that will meet those requirements. Like in any country, you're never very far from a "rough area". Even the very good and expensive areas have "rough areas" fairly close.

I've lived in Ireland almost all of my life and can't say I know whether my neighbours went to university or not.

State of the art schools, do you expect to pay or not?

Your infrastructure asks are tough too.

Have you ever been to Ireland? I'd suggest you come and rent/Airbnb for a couple of months before you buy so you can check out some areas properly.

Are you talking about Dublin?

There's no real rough areas within a 100kms of me.

OP,it's pricier than most places in the West but Westport fits your criteria (your airport would be Knock instead of shannon)

Galway would be another although more expensive again and a biggish city by Irish standards.

I think Wicklow town vicinity is lovely.

*East coast- better temperatures usually.

*Under an hour from Dublin Airport/City/3rd level institutions.

*Beautiful town with picturesque beaches on the outskirts (Brittas Bay especially).

*Within half an hour, you can be in the Wicklow Mountains which are simply stunning and perfect for hiking, cycling, lake activities.

*The town has a good vibe about it, very clean, well maintained and artsy.

*Really friendly people, even just going into the shops, the staff are very welcoming.

I'm not from there but did a lockdown mini break last year and absolutely loved it.

I'm definitely going back.

Mullingar is a lovely town to live in. An hour from Dublin, surrounded by lakes, quiet, great schools and lovely pubs. Canal walks and cycle ways. You won’t get much better.

Killaloe, pronounced Killalu, Co Clare would tick a lot of boxes

We moved from Dublin to kerry a few years ago.

Middle of the city to the countryside with 5 acres of land and 30 minutes drive to 7 beaches. Numerous mountains and forests and great neighbours.

I'm 7 minutes drive to the main town and under 90 to Shannon. I can almost see it from my house. A hill gets in the way. 3 hours to Dublin

Cork Airport about 2hours away maximum

A few things and places come to mind.

kerry … fantastic beaches out door life, friendly people, who look after one another. Scenery is world class especially on the coast. Shannon 1.5 hours, Farranfore max 40 minutes from anywhere. Great pubs. Educationally same as most schools in ireland, less anti social behaviour outside Killarney and Especially Tralee.

kildare… clane/Newbridge/Naas…more anti social behaviour more shopping options lots for kids to do. Clongowes or Newbridge college and many other state schools. Curragh for walking/ hiking. Dublin airport max 45 minutes, Dublin not too far and available through train also in Naas and Newbridge. House prices higher though.

Depending on your career choices, Westport. Without a shadow of a doubt. Moved the 30 years ago and I'll never live on the East Coast again. A most wonderful place to raise kids.

The problem with mayo is understanding the native Inhabitants 😁

Mullingar is a nice quiet town, Good schools, plenty of shops , cafes shopping centres, nice park, look on daft ie Westmeath, Mullingar, houses 200k plus 3bed, make sure it's a non council estate, private estate, less than 45 minutes from Dublin City . Good place to live, safe, low crime rate I lived there for 12 years you don't want to live in a small town like 3000 population. Mullingar is a medium sized town but not a city , good range of schools, and shops cable TV and fast broadband avaidable eg 50 Meg plus or fibre installed see google broadband Mullingar eir or virgin media providers

Nice friendly people, good place to bring up a family

Hi OP, I live in the US but am looking to move back with my American born wife at some point over the next couple of years. My situation is a little different from yours but a few things come to mind from looking at your criteria and from thinking about my wife’s situation and what it will be like for in making the jump over to Ireland.

ireland is a great place to raise kids and the schools are great in my opinion but at the same time understand that virtually everyone in Ireland goes to public schools and given that, a lot of the kids in school will not be on track to go to university. These days most go to some form of third level but a lot won’t and in my opinion that’s one of the things that make the schools great. You meet all kinds of people from all different backgrounds at school in Ireland and that experience gives children a lot of life skills. It’s a different set up to the US and Canada though where a lot of the “good” schools seem to have kids from very homogenous backgrounds.

similarly you’ll have a hard time finding a town where most people are college educated and professional. That’s not a bad thing from my point of view but be aware that there are no Portlands or Vancouvers in Ireland. Dublin would be the closest thing but I wouldn’t recommend it for reasons that would take to long to explain and you’re clearly looking for a smaller city/town and different environment anyway.

i reckon you’ll have a hard time finding somewhere that meets all of your criteria. For instance public transport and trains are fairly shite in Ireland, especially compared to most of the rest of Europe. You’ll end up using a car a lot just for regular day to day stuff unless you’re right in the middle of town in somewhere like Galway or Cork. Even though it’s larger than your criteria Cork might be a good bet for you in terms of social life, access to transport, cultural and sporting amenities etc. but getting a nice detached house there, even in the suburbs might be outside of your price range.

I have to say I’m curious if you’ve spent much time in Ireland? Have you ever done a winter there? Are you aware most of the schools are Catholic and the homes are FREEZING compared to north American standards? I’m not trying to put you off for a second, but the culture is very different to the US and Canada. For instance you mentioned you are looking for somewhere that is close knit. You need have no worries about that - pretty much everywhere in Ireland outside of the big cities is close knit but the flip side of that is that it can be a bit insular. Having kids will definitely help you make connections with other parents etc though.

Again, not trying to put you off for a second, you can have an amazing life in places like Kerry or West Cork, amazing scenery but long wet winters. Somewhere like Wicklow also has amazing scenery nearby and access to Dublin’s amenities but will be pricier and you might get less house than you’re hoping for as it’s basically within the commuter belt these days.