Moving to Ireland

[yelims]

1 hour ago, reddog said:

RE: savings.  Surely most Irish banks have a £ account, becy there is so much cross border activity between UK and Ireland?

 

I am pretty sure the interest rate will be almost 0% and you will pry have to pay a fee

Rates are zero for savings accounts at this time, you can buy government bonds which are better (and dirt tax exempt) see statesavings.ie tho these are approaching zero too these days (I locked in a crazy rate 10 years back but since then economy been flying)

 

keep your uk bank account and open one here in euro, you can use something like revolut for day to day spending without issue

[yelims]

3 hours ago, Dweller said:

Thanks. Already 14% doesn't sound good when inflation is hitting the ROI as it is hitting the UK.  Rural crime is something that concerns me when part of the reason we are thinking about it is to be somewhere where we don't have neighbours breathing down our necks and have a bit of space.

I live in rural area in west, great local community (schools clubs, friendly neighbours who go out way help), no crime in my over dozen years at this location, don’t pay attention tabloids reality is different

If anything it’s parts of Dublin or north I be more worried about living in especially border areas.

any outsiders would stand out here like sore thumb around these parts.

 

as for inflation what inflation? If you moved here a decade ago and converted all your life savings to euro you would now be 30% richer as that’s how much the pound was devalued in that time 

unlike the uk you can bet inflation will not reach ecbs target 

Edited June 3, 2021 by yelims

[yelims]

18 hours ago, reddog said:

Well I would not  say that the uk will be stronger, more like less weak than other EU countries.

 

There will definitely have to be some reconfiguration of the Euro/EU and this will probably lead to instability like we have had since 2016, as countries will have to decide if they wanted to be in or out of what will basically be one country, funnily enough the counties that are least suited will want to be in.

 

RE: Savings, I  not saying do this, as I don't think you are supposed to technically, but if you have a relative still in the UK, could you not just give their address to the bank?  (Probably still possible now, but probably not in a few years time)

Here is the pound compared to euro and usd in last few decades

Euro and dollar are within 1% of each other in that time, the pound collapsed against both in meantime literally making everyone in UK stuck using pounds poorer

once again stop reading tabloids and actually look at facts

 

[yelims]

2 hours ago, satsuma said:

A lot of English or Irish ex pats retire to Ireland, north and south.  You need health insurance in the south and I think it’s 2k per year.  The north has the NHS.  The gap in house prices has narrowed but if your coming with 500k from the sale of a UK house you’d get a great house outside Belfast and Dublin.  I don’t think there’s an issue with savings, there are plenty of banks that would hold your money but they would have crap interest rates then same as everyone else.  It was common for people to sell their mid terrace in the north of England and buy a small farm in Ireland, I think the reality is most get sold again in five years.  

You don’t need health insurance depending on your income, the free public system is in some cases better and in some cases worse than nhs (depends on issue, both have waiting lines) 

if you do have a good income then private healthcare is a bonus as it allow you get treated faster in better hospitals, price depends on what you want ands dozen other factors

employers often pay these as extra perks.

 

So worst case scenario it’s nhs like best case scenario you get treated faster on your insurance, there are of course exceptions and some like to point at nhs, but take Covid as example death rate is half of uk despite not having nhs 

[satsuma]

31 minutes ago, yelims said:

You don’t need health insurance depending on your income, the free public system is in some cases better and in some cases worse than nhs (depends on issue, both have waiting lines) 

if you do have a good income then private healthcare is a bonus as it allow you get treated faster in better hospitals, price depends on what you want ands dozen other factors

employers often pay these as extra perks.

 

So worst case scenario it’s nhs like best case scenario you get treated faster on your insurance, there are of course exceptions and some like to point at nhs, but take Covid as example death rate is half of uk despite not having nhs 

General feling amongst those I know over there is that you would not want to be without insurance.  Sure, if you breal your leg you dont need insurance, but if you have something else you might languish for a long time before you get seen.  Mind you, is the NHS much better these days.,......

[yelims]

1 minute ago, satsuma said:

General feling amongst those I know over there is that you would not want to be without insurance.  Sure, if you breal your leg you dont need insurance, but if you have something else you might languish for a long time before you get seen.  Mind you, is the NHS much better these days.,......

Oh yeh if you can get insurance it is well worth it just to be able to skip the queues the plebs 🤪 are stuck in. The public health system is not bad but not great for the amount the state spends on it but that’s a political potatoe going back decades here, the amounts being spent on healthcare are epic but who knows where it ends up.

 

also if one can get a few years of prsi contributions you get a very descent state pension on top of whatever private savings one builds up 

housing wise there’s some incredible value in rural areas with prices at build cost or below (new building regs are crazy) but the cities unfortunately are in same situation as uk, way over priced.

Also be careful not endup back **** of nowhere, compare location to motorway map

here in Galway it’s faster to get cross island from Galway to Dublin (2hrs) than actually get to parts of same Galway county. Same for cork 

finaly weather, it rains a lot more than England, double on west coast than east

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

9 minutes ago, yelims said:

Oh yeh if you can get insurance it is well worth it just to be able to skip the queues the plebs 🤪 are stuck in. The public health system is not bad but not great for the amount the state spends on it but that’s a political potatoe going back decades here, the amounts being spent on healthcare are epic but who knows where it ends up.

 

also if one can get a few years of prsi contributions you get a very descent state pension on top of whatever private savings one builds up 

housing wise there’s some incredible value in rural areas with prices at build cost or below (new building regs are crazy) but the cities unfortunately are in same situation as uk, way over priced.

Also be careful not endup back **** of nowhere, compare location to motorway map

here in Galway it’s faster to get cross island from Galway to Dublin (2hrs) than actually get to parts of same Galway county. Same for cork 

finaly weather, it rains a lot more than England, double on west coast than east

I have noticed the stock in rural areas has disappared over the last month or two - and value is not so good after that sudden selling of stock - some crazy prices coming through in places like Offaly, Roscommon (ie boglands in the middle of nowhere) - odd times and I sense the time to get "value" has ended... estate agent I know down near Nenagh (a horrible place imo) says places in very cut off Tipp/Clare border that have been on market for years suddenly got competitive bidding on them and sold. 

It was very odd - no doubt impact of pandemic, etc. Lots of Dubliners moving out... similar to the London effect over here. And they seem to be heading just about everywhere... will it last? Heaven knows if I know. 

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

1 hour ago, yelims said:

Rates are zero for savings accounts at this time, you can buy government bonds which are better (and dirt tax exempt) see statesavings.ie tho these are approaching zero too these days (I locked in a crazy rate 10 years back but since then economy been flying)

 

keep your uk bank account and open one here in euro, you can use something like revolut for day to day spending without issue

Can you keep your UK bank account without a UK address? Irish family who have moved here and moved back had problems... no UK home address - no account? Or perhaps they were mistaken or this is a Brexit issue? 

Edited June 3, 2021 by gruffydd

[hurlerontheditch]

21 minutes ago, yelims said:

Oh yeh if you can get insurance it is well worth it just to be able to skip the queues the plebs 🤪 are stuck in. The public health system is not bad but not great for the amount the state spends on it but that’s a political potatoe going back decades here, the amounts being spent on healthcare are epic but who knows where it ends up.

 

also if one can get a few years of prsi contributions you get a very descent state pension on top of whatever private savings one builds up 

housing wise there’s some incredible value in rural areas with prices at build cost or below (new building regs are crazy) but the cities unfortunately are in same situation as uk, way over priced.

Also be careful not endup back **** of nowhere, compare location to motorway map

here in Galway it’s faster to get cross island from Galway to Dublin (2hrs) than actually get to parts of same Galway county. Same for cork 

finaly weather, it rains a lot more than England, double on west coast than east

this is the big issue for me! I have become soft living in the south east and moving to Ireland I am afraid I will rust

[yelims]

9 minutes ago, gruffydd said:

Can you keep your UK bank account without a UK address? Irish family who have moved here and moved back had problems... no UK home address - no account? Or perhaps they were mistaken or this is a Brexit issue? 

It seems aib can do that https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/sterling-current-account

tho seeing how much pound devalued under Tories (who are getting increasingly loony) while euro remains stable in last decade why hitch life savings to a sinking ship?

[yelims]

27 minutes ago, gruffydd said:

I have noticed the stock in rural areas has disappared over the last month or two - and value is not so good after that sudden selling of stock - some crazy prices coming through in places like Offaly, Roscommon (ie boglands in the middle of nowhere) - odd times and I sense the time to get "value" has ended... estate agent I know down near Nenagh (a horrible place imo) says places in very cut off Tipp/Clare border that have been on market for years suddenly got competitive bidding on them and sold. 

It was very odd - no doubt impact of pandemic, etc. Lots of Dubliners moving out... similar to the London effect over here. And they seem to be heading just about everywhere... will it last? Heaven knows if I know. 

Yeh last few months are the lowest amount of stock on market and with work from home many want to escape cities. Not sure if this trend will remain 

hell my neck of woods could get a 6 bed for 150k few years back now same are more than double 

daft.ie is what mostly everyone uses here for house hunting 

 

edit: ouch just looked around, insane! Wait couple months maybe till Covid thing blows over and more stock returns markets, everyone must be sitting put now 

Edited June 3, 2021 by yelims

[Paul77]

28 minutes ago, gruffydd said:

Can you keep your UK bank account without a UK address? Irish family who have moved here and moved back had problems... no UK home address - no account? Or perhaps they were mistaken or this is a Brexit issue? 

HSBC is the only bank I know that allows that.

[yelims]

Bank of Ireland also seem to have current accounts in gbp 

revolut definitely works fine but they wouldn’t be covered 100k euro deposit guarantee scheme 

there’s also transferwise/wise for this scenario available here (used to use them in my business for multi currency accounts) https://wise.com/ie/

 

tho once again keeping wealth in pounds seems riskier than bitcoin these days 😂

Edited June 3, 2021 by yelims

[coypondboy]

20 hours ago, gruffydd said:

No you can't get an Irish passport simply because you live in Northern Ireland. If anything property prices are higher... the rural south is much less expensive than where I'm from (Camlough area). Newcastle's an odd town and not without sectarian tensions these days - you'd have to pay me to live anywhere near Newcastle, Kilkeel, Ballynahinch... just not nice on a social level. 

Newry's very diverse these days - huge numbers of immigrants so less of the prod/catholic thing, but it feels kind of dystopian. My home town but that's off the list too, then lol... as soon as I'm south of the border I feel more relaxed. That's what Ulster does well - grotty towns and a certain vibe of tension at times... not as bad as it once was of course but you can still "taste it in the air" sometimes. 

Was recently in Armagh and a guy I know gave me a tour of what had been bombed (a huge part of the centre) so even historic Armagh has a level of grot about it. Much of it is legacy stuff. Outsiders really don't have much of a clue about these places and what they went through. 

My wife has an irish passport so was hoping to get one too think living in northern ireland for a few years qualifies me to do so but rules may change. Interesting series on the bbc about the creation of northern ireland big worry is if Arlene Foster goes in next few days after Potts announces his new cabinet, Sinn Fein could bring down Stormont and elections will follow.  How do you think the population will vote could it be a majority catholic vote and then a reunification of ireland or will we be heading back to the 70's hence my delay for another 5-6 years before deciding what to do?

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

2 hours ago, yelims said:

Yeh last few months are the lowest amount of stock on market and with work from home many want to escape cities. Not sure if this trend will remain 

hell my neck of woods could get a 6 bed for 150k few years back now same are more than double 

daft.ie is what mostly everyone uses here for house hunting 

 

edit: ouch just looked around, insane! Wait couple months maybe till Covid thing blows over and more stock returns markets, everyone must be sitting put now 

I know... I nearly fell off my chair... track a few places near grandparents place just out of interest really - prices near double now what they were a couple of years ago. 

The odd thing is the remote places that have always been cheap no longer are - the same in the north - places like Ballymoney that never saw mad prices now have mad prices! 

By remote I mean pretty dire places with very few services... not simply rural... not even food deliveries and so on. Not convenient in any way. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by gruffydd

[Dweller]

Does anyone know if any environmental searches are done during conveyancing in the ROI like they are here for flood etc? 

Tried to see if Ireland produce flood maps but not having much success. 
English flood maps are really good, Wales not bad but doing searches for ROI and I am not even sure they undertake a search as part of the conveyancing process. 

Most properties we would have gone for in the UK the past 6 months were showing us potentially  under water presume the same if not more so in parts of Ireland so it feels like an important search. 

[Bluto Bites]

On 6/3/2021 at 3:56 PM, coypondboy said:

My wife has an irish passport so was hoping to get one too think living in northern ireland for a few years qualifies me to do so but rules may change. Interesting series on the bbc about the creation of northern ireland big worry is if Arlene Foster goes in next few days after Potts announces his new cabinet, Sinn Fein could bring down Stormont and elections will follow.  How do you think the population will vote could it be a majority catholic vote and then a reunification of ireland or will we be heading back to the 70's hence my delay for another 5-6 years before deciding what to do?

British M15 are still heavily infiltrated into Loyalist paramilitaries and they seem to be flexing at the moment, running protests with men in balaclavas through some loyalists towns. Whether the British intelligence is encouraging any violence or merely keeping a lid on things remains to be seen. 

I don't think there will be a vote on unification for another ten years at least. When there is a vote, I think unification will happen. DUP are just too sectarian and do not want to live in equality with their Catholic neighbours. So more liberal Protestants are finding a home in the Alliance party. Now would be a good time to get a bargain in the north before unification happens in my opinion. As I think prices in the north would rise to nearer the south's level after unification.

I don't think it would head back to the violence of the 70's and 80's. As opposed to then, we now live in a world where everyone has a smartphone so the world will be able to see what is going on/ mainstream media can't cover everything up. If the loyalist paramilitaries do start killing innocent Catholics, the international community would definitely not stand for it and it would be clamped down on quickly in my opinion (not by local police but by international condemnation).

[Bluto Bites]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, gruffydd said:

No you can't get an Irish passport simply because you live in Northern Ireland. If anything property prices are higher... the rural south is much less expensive than where I'm from (Camlough area). Newcastle's an odd town and not without sectarian tensions these days - you'd have to pay me to live anywhere near Newcastle, Kilkeel, Ballynahinch... just not nice on a social level. 

Newry's very diverse these days - huge numbers of immigrants so less of the prod/catholic thing, but it feels kind of dystopian. My home town but that's off the list too, then lol... as soon as I'm south of the border I feel more relaxed. That's what Ulster does well - grotty towns and a certain vibe of tension at times... not as bad as it once was of course but you can still "taste it in the air" sometimes. 

Was recently in Armagh and a guy I know gave me a tour of what had been bombed (a huge part of the centre) so even historic Armagh has a level of grot about it. Much of it is legacy stuff. Outsiders really don't have much of a clue about these places and what they went through. 

Newcastle sectarian, really? I agree about Kilkeel and Ballynahinch but I think Newcastle is lovely. No flags are ever up there, beside the Mournes and the beach, nice cafes and pubs.

[coypondboy]

2 hours ago, Bluto Bites said:

Newcastle sectarian, really? I agree about Kilkeel and Ballynahinch but I think Newcastle is lovely. No flags are ever up there, beside the Mournes and the beach, nice cafes and pubs.

2 hours ago, Bluto Bites said:

Newcastle sectarian, really? I agree about Kilkeel and Ballynahinch but I think Newcastle is lovely. No flags are ever up there, beside the Mournes and the beach, nice cafes and pubs.

On 6/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, gruffydd said:

No you can't get an Irish passport simply because you live in Northern Ireland. If anything property prices are higher... the rural south is much less expensive than where I'm from (Camlough area). Newcastle's an odd town and not without sectarian tensions these days - you'd have to pay me to live anywhere near Newcastle, Kilkeel, Ballynahinch... just not nice on a social level. 

Newry's very diverse these days - huge numbers of immigrants so less of the prod/catholic thing, but it feels kind of dystopian. My home town but that's off the list too, then lol... as soon as I'm south of the border I feel more relaxed. That's what Ulster does well - grotty towns and a certain vibe of tension at times... not as bad as it once was of course but you can still "taste it in the air" sometimes. 

Was recently in Armagh and a guy I know gave me a tour of what had been bombed (a huge part of the centre) so even historic Armagh has a level of grot about it. Much of it is legacy stuff. Outsiders really don't have much of a clue about these places and what they went through. 

My wife has an irish passport so was hoping to get one too think living in northern ireland for a few years qualifies me to do so but rules may change. Interesting series on the bbc about the creation of northern ireland big worry is if Arlene Foster goes in next few days after Potts announces his new cabinet, Sinn Fein could bring down Stormont and elections will follow.  How do you think the population will vote could it be a majority catholic vote and then a reunification of ireland or will we be heading back to the 70's hence my delay for another 5-6 years before deciding what to do?

[coypondboy]

My thoughts exactly too many tourists to spoilt and had no issues during the troubles according to wife's family although real problems nearer the border around newry and so called bandit country.  I agree think the troubles are long gone but need to get through the current spat after brexit and 12 july parades just hope no serious trouble leading to tit for tat fatalities. Hoping to get over in september as can now fly from bournemouth to belfast fingers crossed for some good weather.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

5 hours ago, Dweller said:

Does anyone know if any environmental searches are done during conveyancing in the ROI like they are here for flood etc? 

Tried to see if Ireland produce flood maps but not having much success. 
English flood maps are really good, Wales not bad but doing searches for ROI and I am not even sure they undertake a search as part of the conveyancing process. 

Most properties we would have gone for in the UK the past 6 months were showing us potentially  under water presume the same if not more so in parts of Ireland so it feels like an important search. 

One thing to look out for is foundations... some very boggy ground and if piling not done properly they sink... it depends where you are in the country - in Donegal there's a huge issue with cement, etc. - and contaminated blocks - so modern houses have started crumbling. Not limited to Donegal either. Check that (mica, etc). Any surveyor in the south should deal with flooding, etc. - ask them specifically if worried. 

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

5 hours ago, coypondboy said:

My wife has an irish passport so was hoping to get one too think living in northern ireland for a few years qualifies me to do so but rules may change. Interesting series on the bbc about the creation of northern ireland big worry is if Arlene Foster goes in next few days after Potts announces his new cabinet, Sinn Fein could bring down Stormont and elections will follow.  How do you think the population will vote could it be a majority catholic vote and then a reunification of ireland or will we be heading back to the 70's hence my delay for another 5-6 years before deciding what to do?

It could go pear shaped very quickly. Already wobbling (check out the balaclavad parade in Portiedown) - odd times. Hard to second guess anything, but there may be a few years of extreme political instability coming up. 

Only in Ulster could there be a [Brexit] protest parade featuring massed ranks of bandsmen in balaclavas (to escape the attention of the police)... attended by moderate politicians who don't seem to think anything's amiss! 

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by gruffydd

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

1 hour ago, coypondboy said:

My thoughts exactly too many tourists to spoilt and had no issues during the troubles according to wife's family although real problems nearer the border around newry and so called bandit country.  I agree think the troubles are long gone but need to get through the current spat after brexit and 12 july parades just hope no serious trouble leading to tit for tat fatalities. Hoping to get over in september as can now fly from bournemouth to belfast fingers crossed for some good weather.

I am from bandit country - but Kilkeel is very troubled place, and many parts of County Down are incredibly sectarian beneath the surface. In Newcastle it may be more hidden but do recall an almighty row last time I was there due to Palestinian flags being flown... it's gone from majority unionist to majority nationalist and the IRA always had very active IRA units based around Newcastle (2 villages within a few miles) - through the Troubles, with dissidents having a strong presence in one. Likewise, there are some loyalist paramilitary bases in the same area too. 

I'm old enough to remember machine gun attacks on tourist buses to keep them out... all a bit surreal back then.

Also, IRA dissidents are stronger in South Down than most other places... just well hidden from outsiders. Think they had a training camp there a couple of years ago. 

Edited June 6, 2021 by gruffydd

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

4 hours ago, Bluto Bites said:

Newcastle sectarian, really? I agree about Kilkeel and Ballynahinch but I think Newcastle is lovely. No flags are ever up there, beside the Mournes and the beach, nice cafes and pubs.

Very... if you spend time there... more subtle than other places so as not to scare the tourists. 

David McWilliams gives it a mention, I note... https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/demographics-are-shifting-towards-a-united-ireland-we-must-have-a-plan-35865222.html

As for Kilkeel... low level sectarianism is very overt... and sometimes a savage beating... only ever really makes local media normally. https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/07/16/news/catholic-man-suffers-horrific-head-injuries-in-kilkeel-sectarian-attack-1663793/

Edited June 6, 2021 by gruffydd

[Dweller]

1 hour ago, gruffydd said:

One thing to look out for is foundations... some very boggy ground and if piling not done properly they sink... it depends where you are in the country - in Donegal there's a huge issue with cement, etc. - and contaminated blocks - so modern houses have started crumbling. Not limited to Donegal either. Check that (mica, etc). Any surveyor in the south should deal with flooding, etc. - ask them specifically if worried. 

Thanks for that.  I know about the blocks same in the area where my daughter lives (Ballina) , my heart goes out to all the people stuck in new builds that are crumbling :O(