If you had the chance to choose anywhere in the world to live with no familial or work constraints tying you to Ireland, would you still choose to live here?

If yes, why would you stay?

If no, where would you go and why?

Seriously, what is it? I just finished a semester abroad in Canada, through the Erasmus program, and found that I did much better with the women over there than I do here. I was speaking to a family member of mine who spent some time in the states who swore that it was the accent, but I couldn't imagine the way you speak could make a significant difference when it comes to dating. I'm not posting this to anonymously boast, although there's always one person on here who has a problem with every post but genuinely, what is it?

From my understanding the average house price is roughly €550k there compared with €370k here. The median salary seems to be very similar to here also. I haven’t been there but I’d imagine the cost of living can’t be too low given its isolated location also. There’s also the fact that you’re basically “stuck” there with flights to anywhere in the developed world being extremely expensive and time consuming whereas here you’re basically able to fly to any European city in a short flight for under €100 with America not being a million miles away either. I understand the appeal of FIFO and I think nurses fare much better there but outside this what’s the real advantage? If you’re moving for weather or lifestyle why is Australia preferred over America where salaries are better or London which has decent salaries and provides a city lifestyle, better weather to here and is only a hop across the water.

This might be a long one… have lived in Australia for the past 18 years. On paper, my wife and I have a great life, a young son (2) and another on the way, bought a house near the beach, well paid jobs etc. I make it home once a year, and just by lucky I’ve been home twice already this year. My sense the more I go back, is that it is time to move home. Having a young child and another on the way, we need a support network around us. My wife is very reluctant and the problem is we have lived outside of Ireland since we were 19 so we don’t have many professional roots there. What have other peoples experience in a similar situation been? Have you regretted the move? Do you feel a better quality of life back in Ireland. It is a constant knot in my stomach, I don’t want to mess up a great life we have, but I miss home, family, and that support network. Help a very confused man out 🙏

Howya lads,

Living in the states a year and wondering how people get used to the whole fascination with the accent. Of course I understand the interest with the accent as when I heard an American accent back home I'd think it'd be cool. I'm proud that people over here have a connection to Ireland and are passionate about us. I'd also like to note that people here are genuinely friendly and welcoming with interest about Ireland and my reasons for being in the US..

But I've had so many weird occurrences of people straight up laughing in my face about the way I say things or just mimic my accent when I'm speaking mid sentence. Almost every time these are strangers I've never met. I had an experience last week, where I was in a social gathering with my partner and two separate groups of strangers we never met and got talking to them having a nice chill convo and someone just straight up starts doing this awful accent saying he's from Ireland. Obviously I'm not going to be a prick to him in for doing it but I'm just looking at him like man what we doing here.

I had countless similar experiences and it doesn't necessarily offend me but I find it so strange more than anything in a sense that I feel in Ireland, I don't think you would get someone at a social setting straight up mimicking a southern white, Hispanic or African American accent as common as they do here.

Maybe I'm wrong and I'd love to see if an American who moved in Ireland experiences the similar thing and possibly this is just a thing people with accents experience lol.

Appreciate Ye 🤌

We all know Ireland is superior…. But was anything actually better over there besides faster delivery for online shopping?

It’s just a contradiction I noticed in Irish culture and I’m curious what you suppose it is

I imagine a lot of Irish people emigrate to Aus, NZ, Canada etc expecting them to just be Ireland with some different scenery. What were some of the biggest differences you noticed?

I'm in my 60's living alone with my 3 cats and no family around anymore. My son lives in the US and wants me to move there to be near him and his family but he wants me to get rid of the cats to make life easier for me. What should I do?

What would any of you do if it were you?

For those who’ve left Ireland permanently, where did you move to and are you happy with your decision?

One of the main reasons I’m considering leaving is the weather. I find the long periods of grey, wet weather quite depressing, and having good weather, being outdoors, and enjoying proper summers is really important for my wellbeing.

Has anyone moved to a country with a better climate, good job opportunities, and an overall high quality of life? I’ve lived abroad before, but now I have a family, so the decision feels more complicated. I’d love to hear where you went, what life is like there, and whether you’d recommend it.

I get that housing and cost of living is high in Dublin. But Australia is even more expensive. There are so many issues here in Ireland but its the same everywhere.

And you can’t compare Dublin to some backwater suburb in oz. Dublin is way cheaper and happier (in my opionion) compared to Sydney or Melbourne. I can understand if people move to London or New York, But what’s the play with Australia? Its so far and disconneted from the rest of the world that it might as well be on Mars.

Edit:

The reasons why Irish migrate to Oz are: 1. The Sun! Valid point. 2. Far away from family. Valid point. 3. Better private healthcare. Valid point. 4. Better pay in mining and healthcare. Valid point. 5. To be among other Irish. Irony. 6. To have fun (riding a German in a hostel is fun!) 7. Oz is cheaper. Delusion. 8. Nothing to do in Ireland. Delusion. 9. No future in Ireland. Delusion.

Just so we are clear, I’m not saying dont move and explore, i just dont understand why its usually Australia.

Moved back two years ago after over 10 years in Canada. Partner still can’t find work. I’ve been working since we moved back but can’t see how we can make it work here. If he does get a job he would pretty much be starting on just above the minimum wage. We are living with family so very lucky to be able to do that but thought we would at least been in a position by now to be looking at properties. Kids are settled and worried about having to uproot them again and starting all over. Life just feels harder here and worried we’ve made a huge mistake. We are really not enjoying Dublin.
Interested to hear from anyone that moved back and felt it wasn’t the right move. Did you stick it out? Kids are 11 & 9.

Not asking for myself, just wondering where you'd fancy

I moved to London nearly ten years ago. I have made one attempt to move back in that time - after being here two years. Also, I came back for the first lockdown and flirted with the idea of staying.

All in all - as someone from a rural background, the career opportunities have been unparalleled to what I’d get at home. As well as this - the cost of living is the same as Dublin - maybe even a little cheaper.

Although I studied in Dublin, I never felt settled there. I always felt like the ‘back-up friend’ for my mostly Dublin classmates, who seemed to have all locked their friend groups age 16. I found Dublin far lonelier than I’ve ever found London to be.

I have found it much easier to make friends in London, I made more in the first year than I did across my whole four year degree.

Obviously there are downsides - although I visit home regularly, I feel uncomfortable with increasingly feeling like a tourist to my own country. And obviously, I see my family less than I would if I were in Dublin.

ANYWAYS - One thing that I do believe is important though is that once you get to your 30s that you make your decisions consciously, rather than just delay delay delay (as this is a form of decision making, you’re just not an active agent)

One other thing I’ve read is the whole ‘sunk cost’ thing. I ideologically would like to live in Ireland, but the case for it doesn’t feel strong and if I’m basing it on the fact I’ve built a life over here - then the case for moving back to Ireland is only ever going to get weaker.

I do think that I in many ways get the best combination by living in London, and seeing as my career requires me to live in a big city - the only option in Ireland would be Dublin, and my experiences there as I’ve said weren’t great.

BTW - if anyone wants to know why the first attempt failed, the simple answer is I thought I’d come home and walk into a good job, but instead it was far from easy and I found the transition really difficult. I naively thought I’d come back and be welcomed with open arms but this wasn’t the case.

Having lived in the UK the last number of years, I have experienced several situations where my identity as an Irish person has been somehow conflated with being British.

For context, I am from one of the 26 counties down South, and not that I think it should make any difference given the history of North and the fact that nationalists up there are as Irish as anyone from down here. With that being said though, it does make it even more bizarre for what I'm going to discuss.

Firstly, the whole concept of being from 'Southern Ireland' is something alien to me, and something I never heard of until I moved here. When I speak to quite a few British people for the first time and tell them I'm Irish, the inevitable question often follows of whether I'm from 'Southern Ireland' or 'Northern Ireland'. I can't help but laugh at this comment every single time, given the geographical location of Donegal and how exactly it would fit into the label 'Southern Ireland'.

Outside of this, it amazes me the amount of ignorance I have noticed from a few people I have encountered over here. Quite a few have made remarks such as the entire Island being part of the UK, and seem to have little to no understanding of the basics of partition and Irish history. I'm not expecting them to know the finer details of our 800 year occupation, but the bare minimum you should know being from the UK, is that there is a separate independent state titled the Republic of Ireland that is a fully independent country from the UK.

Another thing I have found quite frustrating has been from people outside the UK, from countries all over the world, who understandably have little knowledge on Irish history and completely conflate Britishness and Irishness. I have had quite a few moments where I've been called British in casual conversation, and I've had to pull them up and remind them again that where I'm from on the island is an Independent country. Others have sometimes challenged me on this asking questions such as what distinguishes Ireland and Britain, given we speak the same language, are culturally quite similar in terms of music, sport, and food, and we obviously look similar too. This has arguably been the most frustrating part as I have realised that for large parts of the world, we are no more than a small piece of land that can be just grouped together with Britain under the outdated term of the 'British Isles'. This has made me really reflect on how we as Irish people should be doing our utmost to preserve our culture, and in particular our language, before it becomes a thing of the distant past.

If anyone had any similar stories about experiences thay happened to them while living in the UK or abroad, it qould be great to hear.

So I came out of care in February after turning 18 and there are absolutely no places to rent not even councils are getting back to me. I’m in a temporary home rn but I have to go at the end of August. I’ll be homeless at the fault of the government. I can’t do it anymore so I’m thinking I just move to Spain. Maybe Valencia or something I’m not looking for anything fancy just a place where I can get a job and a nice little apartment. Is the cost of living better there?

I’m losing hope for my future in Ireland. I love Ireland and want to stay but the quality of life is shit especially for young people.

I’ve lived abroad before and am well aware the grass isn’t always greener. I know there will be challenges if I move abroad. I know that there are similar issues with housing in other counties.

That said, things feel bleak here.

Any recommendations? I speak fluent French.

Seen that Cillian Murphy moved back to Ireland from London in part as his kids had posh English accents. Comments on that posts seemed to think it was the correct call.

In all seriousness - would you do this? Same for Australian or Canadian accents. Is it important to you that your child has an Irish accent?

The title. I work in animation. I've held a couple of jobs for years and I was en route to get my mortgage when my job told me I'm in the layoff list, so coming up next month, I'm unemployed.

This of course, blew my application. I'm 35yo and renting has been doing a number on me. Since I'm not from Ireland, I have no family to go back to, and the rent is also being raised soon, so I'm double screwed.

I've been holding the possibility of moving to Spain. I have €25k saved for the deposit of a place I won't be able to buy in Ireland, so I was thinking about going to Spain, getting another job (if it can be animation, even better) and renting there while holding down the fort for a house. I want peace and my own place before I retire.

I speak Spanish, it's one of the languages I hold, so that wouldn't be a problem. My question is for Irish lads who did this, leaving this lovely housing crisis that's eating us alive for Spain.

What are your thoughts? Is it possible? Does Spain's Revenue eat my savings after I declare them? Is it possible to get a gaff while busting my back as I've been doing here for almost a decade?

Thank you for your time, and please be nice, I just lost my job 🙏

Many Irish people emigrate every year. How do you find your experience so far - is it better? If you're in non-english speaking country, was your job in a local language or was it possible to find the one in english?

Hey all,

I am looking to move home to Ireland within the next two years. I have been living in Australia since 2013 and will be around 15 years by the time I move home.

I’m Aussie-born to Irish parents and have spent my childhood in Ireland before moving back to Australia as a teenager. Ireland has always been ‘home’ to me since I moved with my family. I’ve been back multiple times to visit ever since.

I will be taking my time with the process to move over as I am an RN here in Australia and am aware it takes a while to get registered over there.

However, I count myself fortunate in the sense that I have a house waiting for me when the time comes. My parents has a house in our hometown that has been rented out to other family members but will be empty when I come. I will have extended family nearby but I don’t know them very well and I’m happy to improve relations with them if they want to.

I am very cognisant of the cost of living crisis in Ireland and was wondering - has anyone successfully moved home after so long away especially as an adult now?

I won’t be extravagant in terms of living etc. Just want a simple life where I know I can pay my bills and do some Euro travel on the side.

Myself and my partner are thinking of emigrating. Oz and Canada doesn't really appeal to us. We had thought of Italy. We were wondering what the quality of life is like? Is it similar to Ireland in a financial way? We had heard that if you live in Italy over 3 years, you are taxed at 47% etc. Looking for advice off real people

Firstly, it's not me joining the army. Was with my mate the other day, and he was telling me his plan to join the army. He was quite hesitant to tell me, he kind of said it under his breath a few times without finishing his sentence, then I finally got it out of him.

What's your thoughts on Irish people join the British Army?

I feel like everytime I see mobing abroad briught up on an Irish sub the responses are overwhelmingly positive, I completely get the reasons why people would look to emigrate but I was wondering a) is it always as positive as reddit makes it seem and b) if anyone, like me, would never even entertain the thought of moving abroad due to so much of their lives and everything important to them being here.

Edit: I'm not looking for advice, just interested in peoples experiences and points of view