The Commute

Some people are talking on this thread about moving to Dublin and the talk is like equating it to moving to an Island in the South Pacific.

There is 1.4million people living in Dublin, most speak English and are very sociable.

Frowzy wrote: »

This could be true, but the train ticket at the time was 45 pounds (yes pounds) per week, and I was living at home with Mammy, so I was saving money which I could put into the house and wedding. I've never been into the Dublin scene, I did stay up once or twice for work nights out but Dublin just wasn't for me....... I had just returned home from 3 years working abroad, I didn't want to be away from home again.

I'm glad it worked out for you unlike some of the people in the TV show but in my opinion, if you travelled up and down every day, only ever went out with work people and never spent any time in Dublin at all, you're not really in a position to say that Dublin isn't for you. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, just that you didn't give it a chance at all.

It's the same with the midwife in the show - she hates London, hates the lack of life, hates being by herself when off-duty and feels sorry for the couple she met who had emigrated there and were settling down. And yet, they're doing the very thing that has a chance of fixing some of her problems. Fair enough, in her case moving a large family would be prohibitively disruptive but you can't ignore where you live and then say you don't like it.

syklops wrote: »

The guy who commutes to dublin from limerick everyday. Why not get digs in dublin? The money you would spend on trains alone. Why wouldn't you just move up to Dublin? He has been doing it for 3 years. Thats nuts!

....This guys wife had a job in Limerick, which was the reason that they had moved back there from Dublin + he has a kid in Limerick. I can imagine trying to make that decision to commute or move back,.... yes it would probably work out better if he just got digs in Dublin or something, but then he only gets to see his kid at the weekends.

BIRDCAGE1 wrote: »

....This guys wife had a job in Limerick, which was the reason that they had moved back there from Dublin + he has a kid in Limerick. I can imagine trying to make that decision to commute or move back,.... yes it would probably work out better if he just got digs in Dublin or something, but then he only gets to see his kid at the weekends.

What about moving the kid to Dublin so (s)he could spend time with its father?

Frowzy wrote: »

While I take all your points, in fairness not everybody wants to live in Dublin, that isn't necessarily a diss to Dublin or anyone living there. Some people have no choice as to where they work, but they can choose where they live. I guess it's a pity that there aren't more jobs outside the greater Dublin area. Would it be possible for the whole population to move to Dublin?

Like it or not, the vast majority of jobs in most developed countries are in cities. Of course people have a choice where to live but you can't live in a rural location and expect jobs to be created there - it just doesn't happen. That's not to say that all the jobs will (or should) be in Dublin - Cork, Limerick and Galway are reasonably big too.

Lord Trollington wrote: »

Can someone explain to me what is the "Dublin Scene"?

lol.... fair point, I worked with people who considered themselves "professionals" and wouldn't have been caught dead propping up a bar from a high stool! Wasn't into the whole drinks in a cocktail bar after work thing!! (I realise I shouldn't generalise - apologies)

jonnny68 wrote: »

precisely, and many too are unemployed whilst certain culchies commute every day and then have the audacity to whinge and moan and slate Dublin at every given opportunity this is what gets on my nerves, ive no problem with anyone from anywhere working in my city but if your gonna whinge and moan all the time about it then do one!!

don't think this even deserves a response.......

syklops wrote: »

Ninja900 didn't bring it up as a subject, he just called the programme a bog-warrior whinge-fest.

Oh! excusez moi! perhaps you could explain what a bog-warrior is then?
I was assuming he was classifying non-Dublin residents........

syklops wrote: »

By *Dublin scene*, do you mean the 'pub'? Thats the only scene I was involved in in Dublin.

explained below (SIGH)

I'm a commuter and while it's not as far as London, it's heartbreaking none the less only getting to spend an hour with my daughter in the evening is killing me

We couldn't afford to buy in Dublin during the boom, we bought down the country and at the time were happy to make the sacrifice to own our own place, it was just the two of us and the pressures were different. There was never a plan to stay here full time but then the arse fell out of the market and here we are, stuck...

Now you could say it's our own fault, maybe so. But what sort of a price should we be expected to pay?

We are miserable, we have no life, my husband lost his job a few months into moving down there and there is now no hope of getting out. We're living in a town we hate, where we know no one, have no family, no ties to the place, nothing at all, we feel there are just no prospects, no chance of getting out.

The house is worth less than half of what we paid.

We will accept that debt, we will continue to pay it, but if only there was a way we could move back to dublin but with him not working and now having a baby to support, there aren't many options.

We are considering just moving back to Dublin and renting, plus trying to cover the cost of renting the place down the country (it won't make the full mortgage), we can't sell it as there are no houses selling in the estate.

it's one of those decisions, move back to dublin, have a life again, but then if your back is to the wall, will we even have a quality of life?

all I know as the winter sets in, it's another battle beginning trying to commute to dublin it's already getting me down and the snow and ice haven't even arrived yet.

I think the 2 of us will end up being treated for depression before next year is over if we continue on like this

and to the girl that is happy to only see her baby for an hour in the evening, take it from a mother that's been there, you can detach yourself and tell yourself you're doing it for her best etc but it's only as she get's older that you realise those first few years are so precious and time you will never get back again. It's only then you will have the regrets that I have...

I feel so guilty for making a decision to buy when we did, where we did, we thought we were making the right decision for our future and more importantly our baby's future, but we couldn't have got it more wrong

it's a bitter pill to swallow, but that's life I suppose

I'm not looking for sympathy, just telling it like it is. It's a decision we'll have to live with, but what's killing me is we didn't even live it up in the boom at least you could say we're paying the price for living the high life

we made a bad decision at a very bad time and there appears to be no way back from it unless we throw the keys in the letterbox and emigrate

Ideally we would all get the job we want in the location we want but we dont live in an ideal world! We have to suck it up and just get on with it. There really seems to be a sense of entitlement in our culture that we need to build a bridge and get over it! The teacher coming home every weekend, I assume the GAA is paying his fare and been a Maths Teacher there are jobs, ok not permanent straight away. He needs to get his foot inside the door of a School first even if part-time. Principals love GAA heads that can train school teams! The builder living in London I felt some sympathy at the start until I saw the car that he said was worth a grand or two abandoned on the land he inherited. If he wanted to get home more and see his daughter more, sell the car or even the land, pure and simple! If I was stuck for money and I had an abandoned car somewhere that was mine it would be sold well before now. By the way he is in denial he is an emigrant and not a commuter! Fair play to the woman that went back as a mature student to college and trained as a mid-wife but since its a niche job sector you have to go where the jobs are. When I left School most of the girls had to go the UK to train as nurses. That was the way it was and they just had to get on with it! Some were then able to come home after afew years to get jobs here. Just because you a mature married woman with children doesnt make you immune to the lack of jobs! Ask anyone from the West or North West and all of them will tell you about the lack of jobs over there. OK you want your nice house built where you grew up but its not the movies its reality. I visited the locality where the Donegal couple built their house. Beautiful yes but there is nothing there so why are they surprised they have to get a job somewhere else! Companies dont locate in the middle of nowhere! We cant always get what we want in this life!

Just watched the programme on the RTE player,not surprised they covered a GAA player,its happening alot fellas now,leaving to work in London and coming at home at weekends to play for their clubs or in that lads case his county,I admire these people that do choose to commute its must be a very hard choice to make,but if you have a wife and kids to support and a mortgage to pay these people have no other choice.

southsiderosie wrote: »

Ireland has just over 4 million people. That is less than the population of Greater Madrid.

FAR more people could live in Dublin than currently do, but it would require 1) more high-density development, 2) a willingness to live in said high-density development, and 3) a far better rapid transit system and/or much stricter restrictions on driving.

The resistance to urbanization, and in particular to smart urban growth in Ireland is really surprising, especially from a non-Irish perspective.

To be honest, if Dublin was to be further developed to cope with a population of, say, 2.5 million people, we'd have to go back to basics first. As you point out, rapid transit would need to be developed to a mugh higher standard. However, the city has been ruined over the past 15 years through lack of investment in basic infrastructure and the fact that every little piece of available land seemed to have been developed. You saw what a few hours of heavy rain led to.

Dublin, albeit on a much smaller scale, suffers from similiar problems to Los Angeles. The desire for low-density semi-detached housing has led to chaotic urban sprawl which feeds the congestion and over-reliance on cars. The mentality here won't change quickly enough to save the city from itself.

southsiderosie wrote: »

Ireland has just over 4 million people. That is less than the population of Greater Madrid.

FAR more people could live in Dublin than currently do, but it would require 1) more high-density development, 2) a willingness to live in said high-density development, and 3) a far better rapid transit system and/or much stricter restrictions on driving.

The resistance to urbanization, and in particular to smart urban growth in Ireland is really surprising, especially from a non-Irish perspective.

.... And I'm assuming a bigger water supply? So you don't have to come cap in hand to us bog warriors / backwater culchies in Tipperary (as is happening now).

Actually, if Dubliners haven't enough water and have to beg Tipp Co Co for some perhaps you should all move to Tipperary....