Emigrants, thinking of coming home?

c_man · 25-01-2016 11:46AM #1

I wasn't surprised to read recently that "one out of every six Irish-born people currently resides in another country" recently. It seems it's an issue the government have been dodging due to making the unemployment figures etc look good but are now making noise about e.g. Enda saying he wants to make it more attractive for emigrants to return by various tax changes (but then of course that plays well with parents in the upcoming election...). It seems like things are picking up back home slightly anyways.

So emigrants of AH, would you consider moving home? Or are ye well settled in your chosen destination? I gotta say most of my friends who live abroad don't seem like they're in any rush back. I can only think of one who actually wants to in the near future (doesn't want to raise a family in the US) but admits this will mean a substantial pay cut.

I'm not too long out of the country so not thinking of returning just yet, though I've always assumed I will at some stage.

irishmover · 25-01-2016 11:49AM

No. I'd have to change my user name if I did.

cowboyBuilder · 25-01-2016 11:50AM

Ive been in Spain 10 years, I love going back home for holidays, but could never get used to the gray wet wind and horizontal rain...

So not just yet ...

razorblunt · 25-01-2016 12:03PM

I always assumed I would but still have no concrete plans.
Will probably change when kids come on the scene and I can be confident I'd get a matching wage I'd say.

It's difficult because when I'm home, like the Xmas just gone for example, I hate leaving and I think "that's it I'll set the wheels in motion to come back", but then after a night or two at home here (Edinburgh) I lose the drive and put it on the backburner as I love it here too.

AgileMyth · 25-01-2016 12:10PM

It's 11 on a Monday morning and I'm sitting outside in nothing but a pair of board shorts. I get paid for today. I'm alright where I am!

I would earn more money at home but couldn't do the same job so would have to find something that interests me. Lot of effort when I'm already living well where I am.

Love Ireland but it'll be a holiday destination for the foreseeable future.

Permabear · 25-01-2016 12:23PM

This post has been deleted.

25-01-2016 12:32PM

Both my Children are away.

This sum it up some what.

There was a business program on RTE radio on Saturday morning I listen to it as I potter around... any way the businessman ( some serial tec entrepreneur ) being interview said in Ireland you run out of markets very quickly as its a small country.

danburke · 25-01-2016 12:32PM

I left for the U.K. four years ago with full intentions of returning home. However, I doubt i'll ever move home.

Oxford alone probably has more employment opportunities that Dublin. The healthcare over here is amazing. Although that comes at a cost.

Sad to say, but if Ireland were run like England is, I would be on the first boat home.

irishguitarlad · 25-01-2016 12:33PM

Nope not a chance, living here in the south of spain and i love it. Sure Spain has its problems as well but i feel spiritually or something that this is where i belong.

c_man · 25-01-2016 12:42PM

Yeah there's definitely a monetary side to it. I mean personally I am earning more than I was in Ireland, I pay less tax than I would back home and get a far better standard of public services for that. For a non-car driver such as myself, the public transport is excellent *shudders at Bus Eireann memories*.

But what about your quality of life/family side of things? I'll take my friend I mentioned in the OP. He's reluctant to raise a family in the US due to the crime rate, education costs and the more general sense of fear/mistrust (his reasoning, not mine). I realise I'm tarring the whole US with that and obviously there's regional variations but in general leaving America aside, for a lot of the things mentioned Ireland ranks pretty good. I can't bring up one of the studies offhand but I've definitely a few international reports recently saying that and about a pretty good quality of life.

I'm in Edinburgh. The locals are often moaning about the weather but tbh, as a West of Ireland raised lad I find it great! I dislike hotter climates in general and the lack of rain here really makes a psychological difference to me!

HalloweenJack · 25-01-2016 01:01PM

Never say never but, looking at the situation I'm in right now, I'll be settling in Spain and I'm quite happy with that.

I don't really get homesick and I've lots of friends and family scattered around the globe so there's very few emotional ties to home for me. Any time I go back, the more certain I am that I made the right decision to leave. Ireland's just not for me.

Help!!!! · 25-01-2016 01:07PM

Spent 19 years in London, moved back almost 2 years ago due to health reasons. Will now retrain & either stay or look to move away again depending on how things look in the future

Tony EH · 25-01-2016 01:11PM

What's there for them to return to?

Unless one is a dyed in the wool Fine Gaeler, happy to parrot the party line, or just simply blind, it's easy to see that the country is still in very bad shape, despite the propaganda.

Emigrants are better off where the are by and large.

catbear · 25-01-2016 01:16PM

Have returned twice but am due to leave again this year. I like Ireland, I feel I can relax here. There's definitely more opportunity abroad but i don't think i could truly fully settle somewhere else, I need a top up of Irish madness every now and again.

Permabear · 25-01-2016 02:19PM

This post has been deleted.

Buona Fortuna · 25-01-2016 02:26PM

Hey we have people who sit outside in their pants here too ya know.

catbear · 25-01-2016 03:21PM

I really wanted to like the US when I was there, the money was easy but I found what I saved in lower taxes tended to get handed over again for things like health insurance. I've had to use the healthservices in Ireland and despite all the criticism it attracts it worked perfectly for our family. I actually found enduring the horror story moaners who regurgitate what they hear on Joe Duffy as gospel more stressful than dealing with actual illness.

My aunt who used to be a private hospital manager in the US didn't see any great difference in outcomes. She was actually very critical of the amount of money wasted in US private healthcare covering up bad practice law suits, as long as the premiums covered the liabilities then practices went unchanged. You'd think competition would change that but when all the providers use the same model and aren't forced to move profit into better practices then the dividends keep coming, the appearance of good practice continues. In fact she said that the more people paid in private health insurance the less likely they were to sue, they wouldn't overrule their own investment decisions!

_Brian · 25-01-2016 03:29PM

People returning expecting a decent job will have to be willing to live in the capital or similar major urban centres.
Outside of maybe 5 urban centres there is little or no recovery being felt and employment/wages in these areas haven't improved in the last 5 years.

Then consider the housing crisis facing these major urban areas. It would be attractive to some to come home at all costs, but for many it's just not an attractive option.

Move to the commuter belt counties?? Well, transport costs will soon consume their wages and the majority of the housing available is tat thrown up during our so called "boom".

Then pay high tax on earnings, high health insurance, high housing costs if it's available where you want, school waiting lists.

Why would someone in a stable job where they are want to come back here. Sure, some will want to be back here no matter what, but the 70-100k that I see banded about in the media ?? I can't see it.

Tony EH · 25-01-2016 03:32PM

Competition is a bit of a myth though. In order to have true competition, you'd need many, many companies competing in the same arena. But, more often than not you really end up with just a few, who end up, basically, homogenising their prices and acting like a cabal.

Once one ups the cost, the rest soon follow suit.

As for our health services, I'll take Ireland's model any day of the week thanks. The US idea is fucking atrocious and that's being kind about it.

While there are certainly issues to be solved here, very real issues, you'd think it was an automatic death sentence going into an Irish hospital, if you were to listen to some.

It's gas though, there's tons of people here that think they're onto a good deal with their private health insurance that get a big, big shock when it comes to actually use it and they find out they're not entitled to half the shit they think they were just because they were paying some overpriced premium for years.

Mahou · 25-01-2016 03:35PM

Kenny mentions bringing 70,000 back. Where are we going to live?

Permabear · 25-01-2016 03:37PM

This post has been deleted.

ancapailldorcha · 25-01-2016 03:41PM

I can think of about one job in Ireland I'd come home for. Not one role, one specific job at one specific institution. And I'd need an extra push such as an Irish OH who was homesick in the mix as well.

I've become fairly specialised so my chances of coming home are slim at best. There are much better opportunities in the UK and the US though I don't fancy the latter's work culture at all so moving there is unlikely meaning that I will quite likely be spending the rest of my life in the UK.

Shelga · 25-01-2016 04:00PM

I'm in midlands England (China right now!) and thought that if I broke up with my English boyfriend, I'd go home to Ireland.

Since we broke up over Christmas and I have that option if I want, it's not so appealing. I'd only live in Dublin, having explored most other options, and just couldn't afford to live anywhere nice on my own, and I'd be on a good salary.

Coincidentally, a potential job has materialised in a nicer part of England nearer the sea, and I'm now leaning towards that if I get it (fingers crossed!). The fact that I find it more exciting and appealing to start all over again in a place where I know no one, rather than try fit a square peg in a round hole career-wise at home (industry doesn't really exist there) speaks volumes I think.

Also, summers are noticeably nicer in the UK I find!

Tony EH · 25-01-2016 04:11PM

Those stats don't tell the whole story though and probably have less to do with the systems in question and more to do with the people using those systems.

By and large Irish people tend to be more shy about visiting doctors and hospitals than Americans do, leading to first diagnoses being later than they should, especially in men.

People working in hospitals here will tell you that the Irish are terrible at presenting themselves and leave things beyond the time that they should go.

c_man · 25-01-2016 04:14PM

"Cry havoc and let slip the developers of the Celtic Tiger" - Enda Kenny :pac:

listermint · 25-01-2016 04:16PM

Based solely on how hot the southern states are for a certain Donald Trump. I think il keep my family here thanks very much.

If the US thinks it has a perception issue to the Outside World, Well then i guess they have their own media to thank for that oh and the 50,000 odd gun deaths every year.

And the "we dont call 911" signs on their doors

Permabear · 25-01-2016 04:19PM

This post has been deleted.

ScumLord · 25-01-2016 04:22PM

I think this is a bit of a waste of time, many people did leave because they had to but I think even if everything was rosy in Ireland people are still going to leave. It's probably for the best to, it keeps our population manageable despite Irish people spitting out children like there's no tomorrow.

All those people that leave give Ireland have been spreading good will and our little island has benefited greatly from it.

Kivaro · 25-01-2016 04:25PM

One of the big differences in the States is that they allow you keep a substantial amount of the money that you earn. In Ireland, it seems that when you are doing well for yourself, you get hit by all types of punitive taxes not seen in the States. DIRT tax is astronomical, ridiculously high tax rates, a tax on every cheque/check that you write. For Irish politicians it seems that the first answer to a problem seems to be a tax. Recent flooding; tax those who are already paying for insurance. Really?

I'm surprised that there is no real working/middle class political party in Ireland, as they are the ones that bear the brunt of supporting the existing regimes (social and political). I get the impression that the voice of the majority is not being heard ............. or just being ignored.

ancapailldorcha · 25-01-2016 04:32PM

I envy you this. I wouldn't get a third world standard bedsit for this where I am living now. Green planning laws mean that many cities here are "green garrotted" in that it's illegal to build on the land surrounding them driving house prices up to an astronomical level.

Shelga · 25-01-2016 04:35PM

$750 a month?? :eek: Damn that failed green card lottery. North Carolina is a lovely part of the US indeed. I think there would be many pros and cons to living in the States, like anywhere, but certainly financially it seems to make more sense if you are a white collar worker.

The cost of living in Bristol, where I'm considering, seems to be about 20% less than Dublin overall, and you get more bang for your buck. Close to the gorgeous Somerset countryside and Bath, my favourite place in the UK.

I've had to catch myself on and realise that the nice dinners and walks and meetups with friends in Dublin are nice precisely because I don't live there. Paying ridiculous VRT to bring my car home, paying astronomical motor tax and stamp duty and health insurance and income tax and the myriad of other costs just probably isn't worth it. Not to mention the issue of going back to paying €2k a year car insurance, having no credit history in the country etc.

Emigrants, thinking of coming home?

Comments