Moving to Ireland...

Whatever you decide to do do not move to Dublin.

Anywhere else in a rural location with get you good value for money for a house with some land. Kilkenny or Kildare, or Ennis in County Clare.

Check this Irish government link for advice on Moving to Ireland from abroad.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving-country/moving-to-ireland/

Best of luck whatever decision you make on location.

maybe start with job hunting then and rent if you can find a job.

There aren’t going to be many employers looking for railway workers, in what capacity I don’t know obviously but I’d say that would eliminate any very remote places to live. Major towns only. Unless you want a long commute to work.

likewise your partner may want to work so again look at towns with relevant industries

Great!

Reading your initial post I simply assumed you were like a lot from London who decide to sell up and use the considerable amount of capital tied up in city homes to buy into communities and carry on acting as if they were still in their own little social enclave.

I echo your observations, Brexit in particular got a lot of the rubbish out from under their rocks. I always used the family home here as a second residence, or more likely first actually as I always worked away from my UK address. Anyway I just had enough, a few discussions at work about Brexit were a complete shock. The racists were Engineers, who like myself worked all over the world too.

I came over rapidly and early to what was intended as my little retirement project.

Actually a lot of English accents here belong to those like myself who had dual citizenship and qualified for a passport here.

I think those that came after Brexit are some of the best!

Like John West, it's what's rejected that makes the product :-)

I wish you all the best.

I don't spend much time in Dublin and cities tend to be very alike really, but the one notable difference here is the rarity of notices telling customers that hitting or abusing staff isn't allowed.

It's sad that in Britain and England in particular, that is seen as a normal feature of shops, doctors surgeries, council buildings, everywhere really.

I don't even think that the message about what it say's about life in England is even noticed by those it's displayed in front of.

It probably was about twenty years back they really proliferated now I think about it.

If I was doing things again I’d consider Scotland lovely countryside and easy to get around the major cities and towns. Of course if you went full nuclear you could consider the 1€ or 3 € houses in Spain or Italy.

We’re in the countryside just outside Wexford town and when me and the wife have talked about moving we realise that compared to the hassle unless we had sea views there would be few advantages. We’d considered the Copper coast Waterford or Dungarvan years ago but this came into focus last week with the Fleadh, the experience in Wexford was fantastic so I can’t now see us making a move elsewhere.

One downside here though is transport 2.5 hours to Dublin airport and 2 + to Cork by car add another hour if going by bus. Waterford used to have a couple of flights to UK which were worth paying the extra money for but these stopped about 5 + years ago. I don’t like the hassle of airports anymore so tend to get a ferry from Rosslare to UK.

large towns only, 20k population, once you go west eg over 70 miles from dublin it,s colder and wetter ,eg rains longer and more frequently. look on rte player great house revival about people buying old houses and upgrading them ,in rural area,s or citys .search video bing great house revival

Theres plenty of work doing property maintenance all tradesmen are kept busy doing repairs or upgrading

yes the East coast is a lot flatter than the West Coast. I am wondering how well you actually know Ireland, considering you are Irish? Did you leave Ireland when you were very young?

Just be careful about a full permanent move straight off. It is not as easy as it seems from foreign shores, or even the other side of Ireland. It also depends on your stage of life etc. If you are outside a large town there are very few places within walking distances like nice coffee shops and restaurants……..you will be in the car for everything.

In Winter you can miss this kind of thing, many restaurants/coffee shops close end of September until May.

Summer and Winter are different worlds in rural Ireland. If you are moving from the cosmopolitan life and buzz of London it will be a big change.

Has your wife ever lived in a rural location before? While you might like the idea, especially if you're Irish, how will she find the change, leaving friends, family and the network she has now? What age group are you in? Fast forward 15 years and you might find it very lonely if your kids have left home and you have a huge place in a rural area to maintain. I was out hiking in South Kerry last weekend and an English woman and her husband (in their early sixties) are hoping to downsize as their house is too big and too high maintenance….. but there is nothing smaller to buy anywhere so they're stuck with big maintenance bills and lots of work.

I am just trying to give you things to consider beforehand. I have done a few house moves on my own to different areas in Ireland. It can be easier on your own as you only have yourself to consider and worry about, in other ways it can be harder. There is a long settling in period. Luckily now I am in a small development and love that I have a small manageable house and people around me.

Just be sure you have done your homework. And try and spend a Winter in the area before you buy. A lot of Kerry people go to the Canaries for a few months over Winter to escape the weather.

Good luck

on your budget for what you want you are looking west or the border counties Cavan, Monaghan or Donegal. Plenty of folks with English accents about getting on just fine - eg West cork is full of them well integrated and living life. You have skills and if you are good, reasonably priced and reliable there will be plenty of work. I’d say go for it, try to zone in on a region and then speak to auctioneers, they will have the local knowledge of what is for sale. Best of luck !!

You can see on other threads here that it's hard to get anyone with a trade/craft so you should have no problem, once you get your name out there. People usually use community groups on Facebook and the like, by town or area, so that's a handy and free way to get noticed. And then, word of mouth should do the rest.

Actually Waterford has some of nicest hillwalks in Ireland with the comeragh mountains.

Dungarvan in county Waterford is one of the most underrated towns for an outdoor life in Ireland as far as I'm concerned. It's got beaches and a fantastic greenway nearby for safe cycling.

Have a look at Westport in Mayo.

Often tops the list of best places to live in Ireland.

Beside Connemara/Achill island for rugged scenery.

At the end of a train line from Dublin for whatever little that may do for your employment prospects.

Life in England has sure gotten harsher and has a constant stiff upper lip to everything, especially in the South of England. It's not bad, it's more structured than in Ireland, but it's harsher for the average individual, I don't want to say middle class, as I doubt there is still something like that left in England.

If money isn't too much of a concern, and you like to be "out west", consider Dingle. I've always loved it there.

However property prices are overpaid there, certainly not in line with the local economics. Some properties are on the market for a very long time and the seller is often hoping for some international buyer who loves the countryside and has good finances and is stupid enough to pay any price.

One basically pays for the location and that is the South West coast of Ireland. And yes, the location of Dingle and around Dingle is really lovely.

OP, have you considered anywhere in NI, many lovely towns, great scenery, beaches, familiar shops, same education system etc.

Possibly east or north Cork. The rail network into Cork city is due to expand significantly over the next 10yrs.check out those areas