Consideration given to move to Galway

trooper2216

Hello all.

Having moved to England from my native Enniskillen 12 years ago I'm of a mind to move back to Ireland and when all's been considered, I'm being drawn to Galway.

Now, my experience of the place (aside from apparently having spent a family holiday there when I was six) amounts to little more than a fleeting visit five years ago as part of a little mini tour round the Republic.

So your advice and insight would be valuable as to whether the city (or places close to it) may be ideal for me - but before I go rambling on and risk breaching board etiquette I'm not familiar with, is this the correct forum for such discussion?

With thanks,
Jonathan

sgthighway

Can't see why not discuss here.
Galway is the greatest place in the world <- me thinks anyways.
Your best source of information regarding jobs and accomadation is the Galway Advertiser @ http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie. It has a good Appointments Section and Accomadation List in the Classifieds.

Your Employment and Accomadation Budget will probably decide where you live - City or County.

biko

trooper2216 wrote:

So your advice and insight would be valuable as to whether the city (or places close to it) may be ideal for me - but before I go rambling on and risk breaching board etiquette I'm not familiar with, is this the correct forum for such discussion?

Galway in the best city in Ireland. That is all there is to it.
Do ask questions but really you should spend at least a long weekend here before you make any decisions.

Here are some things to do around the city

Amazotheamazing

Anyone willing to do a pro and con list?

Pro's, Friendly city, good schools, university, hospital, near an Int airport and local airport, plenty of festivals in summer, on a beach and great scenery nearby.

Con's, bad weather, bad traffic, expensive, anything else?

Miguel_Sanchez

I wouldn't class Galway as that expensive (in comparison to Dublin anyway). I managed to live there quite decently on the dole for a year.

Pros: Small and easy to get around (on foot). Good atmosphere - plenty of decent nightlife. Good pubs, always someone to chat with over a pint.

Cons: Bad traffic. Weather is a bit on the rainy side. It can suck away years of your life - it ain't called the Graveyard of Ambition for nothing.

I enjoyed my six years in Galway, lived there from age 20-26. But I did find that at the end I needed to get out to expand my job opportunities and just for a change of pace. But that's more to do with me being in my twenties rather than Galway itself.

galah

Pro: friendly city, lots of jobs, beaches, things to do, arts, music, nice pubs, nice people, close to airport, nice "buzz".

Cons: an unbelievably crap health service (I really think Galway has the worst in the country), traffic, the weather (it really rains more than anywhere else, on top of the cold...), it's expensive (due to lower wages), and public transport is a joke.

But apart from that - I think Galway is great!

biko

Well if I put it this way. Foreign friends that have visited and then left has always come back for more. Galway is just that great.

Traffic is indeed bad. Live on the same side of the river where you work.
Weather can be terrible, drizzles for days on end. The bay will bring in strong winds from the Atlantic.

However, to trek through driving rain over Connemara bogs just so that you can have hot chocolate in a small rural inn...

Amazotheamazing

One thing about the weather (and I'm joking) means that there's a real fresh air feeling about Galway, it's not as choked as Dublin, Cork or Limerick.

Donegal Lass

move to galway!! i lived there for a while last year and loved it, loved it, loved it. so much so that im actually considering moving back down in november!!:D

trooper2216

Thanks all

Well, things are sounding fairly good so far it would seem. I can adapt to the weather but it'll take a bit of going as we get a fair amount of hot sunny weather over here in Hampshire. The thing that might get me the most about a lot of rainy weather is missing out on the amount of quality bike days (GSX-R750 ) I'm used to where I can get the most out of the thing... if you know what I mean

Now insofar as lifestyle's concerned, so long as there's a good free-weights gym I'll be happy. I enjoy a drink as much as anyone else but really, I'm not much of a drinker but do enjoy the atmosphere of a pub or club so all's good there. And to be honest hearing all this chat about beach and festivals has put a smile on my face!

Which leaves work really. Coincidentally while in London today I met a girl from Galway (Salthill) and she of course raved about the place but said that there's a dearth of IT employment in Galway. I found that surprising, so was hers a fair assessment?

That said if anyone cares to recommend some IT employment agencies I can register a CV with online I'd be grateful. I've found a few myself but am not familiar with what's regarded as a quality job resource in Ireland in the same way as for example Monster and WorkThing are regarded here in the UK.

My thanks again,
Jonathan

sgthighway

Amazotheamazing wrote:

One thing about the weather (and I'm joking) means that there's a real fresh air feeling about Galway, it's not as choked as Dublin, Cork or Limerick.

This is so true. Ask a Dub when was the last time he saw the stars at night from his house.

kippy

The place isnt exacty awash with IT jobs-that is for sure. Not in comparision to Dublin anyway.
Again, the Galway Advertiser is a good place to start.
A decent agency to register with it www.cpl.ie but there are others also based in Galway. I do think CPL have a lot in Galway.
I would also check out www.monster.ie for jobs in Galway.
It is a nice city and I find the lifestyle far more easy going than Dublin.
Kippy

?banned?

trooper2216 wrote:

Thanks all

The thing that might get me the most about a lot of rainy weather is missing out on the amount of quality bike days (GSX-R750 ) I'm used to where I can get the most out of the thing... if you know what I mean

HHmmmm - just so happens to be my favourite bike! Theres not the best roads for riding in Galway. Not really anywhere you can give her a proper run! I find that people in Galway dont care for their bikes or themselves for that matter while riding them. Hardly anyone wears leathers - I've seen guys speeding along wearing just t-shirts on R1's and GSX-R's too!! Crazy mutha ****as... Dublin's got some great places for bikers with lots of organised Sunday rides up the Dublin mountains (I'd recommend you try it) - maybe look online for something similar in Galway (I havent lived there in a while so I'm not sure) Have a look at www.bikeworld.ie - the biggest bike shop in the country. They stock Dainese (with which I have a very expensive addiction!) & Arlen Ness. They are also the main Kawazaki distributors for the country - every biker in the country has to visit there at least once!

Other than that - Galways great, pity you missed the Summer though - always better in Galway during the summer months but because of the colleges in town Winter can be good too!

?banned?

sgthighway wrote:

This is so true. Ask a Dub when was the last time he saw the stars at night from his house.

I did - last night!

biko

http://www.irishjobs.ie/
http://www.recruitireland.com/
http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/content/

galah

?banned? wrote:

Other than that - Galways great, pity you missed the Summer though !

what, was there a summer this year?

ambasite

trooper2216 wrote:

Thanks all
That said if anyone cares to recommend some IT employment agencies I can register a CV with online I'd be grateful. I've found a few myself but am not familiar with what's regarded as a quality job resource in Ireland in the same way as for example Monster and WorkThing are regarded here in the UK.

not sure what area of IT you are looking for but Fidelity Investments are currently looking for the following in their Galway office:

Senior Software Engineer (Galway)

Software Engineer - J2EE/Struts (Galway)

www.fiscireland.ie

?banned?

galah wrote:

what, was there a summer this year?

I meant the season not the weather.... should have clarified that!

galah

Thanks for clarifying that - I was getting worried ;-)

cp251

I've been living in Galway for a year now. Moved from Dublin, married a Galway girl. I like Galway but right now am making plans for a move back to Dublin. Galway is a friendly little city with a good buzz and is close to lots of nice places. Quite happy to move but have been disappointed.

Several reasons, jobs are not as plentiful as some people make out. Boston Scientific for example are terminating over 200 temporary contract workers right now. You won't have read that in any paper. All were hired less than six months ago. It takes about two years to be made permanent there. There is talk of redundancies. Pay is poor even for long term employees. 3000 people work for Boston Scientific. The population of Galway is 70,000 or so. That is 4% of the population. Is that healthy?

Read the Galway Advertiser and you think there are lots of jobs but they are most low paid entry level jobs. There are plenty of jobs in certain specialisations but virtually none in most. If your skill is needed you're OK but you will be paid less than in Dublin anyway. I know several couples where one works in Cork or elsewhere because they can't get the work here. I took a huge drop in pay to come here so did my wife. There are also more limited opportunities for promotion. I know many Galway people with college degrees working in low paid jobs simply because there is nothing suitable for them here.

Wages/salaries are below Dublin but the price of living is not. That is the biggest myth going the rounds. Tesco and Dunne's charge pretty much the same so food is not cheaper. Eating out is a little cheaper but not so you notice and as always that depends on the restaurant. Drink is cheaper than in Temple bar! Great for stag nights. Not much good for us moderate drinkers. Petrol is more expensive. Clothes cost the same. Shopping according to wife is not great either. There just isn't the selection apparently which means shopping trips to Ennis, Limerick and Dundrum regularly. New shopping centres are planned.

House prices are lower than Dublin but recently were described as more expensive relative to average wages. In any case they are considered second only to Dublin. House prices in places like Renmore have got seriously silly and Salthill is as expensive as Dublin. Million Euro houses are common. Rents are still relatively cheaper which is good.

Traffic is in my opinion, as a Dub, is worse than Dublin for it's size. In Dublin you can often avoid traffic if you know a way but here you can't. Traffic jams in both directions simultaneously are common. Roundabouts where there should be traffic lights and vice versa. I hate to venture out after two o'clock anyday. It's down to poor planning and traffic management on the part of the city council. Eyre square was a laughing stock and typical of the shambolic planning evident in this city.

Galway is poorly represented by it's politicians. Higgins seems more interested in Iraq or whatever, anywhere but Galway. He's an absent minded poet. O'Cuiv seems the most ineffective minister I've ever seen. He always looks like a man promoted beyond his abilities. The councillors spend more time bickering and grandstanding than working.

The Health service is poor, yet a state of the art private clinic is in danger of closing down because of lack of utilisation in part because of begrudgery and local politics. Meanwhile they want to build another private clinic in UCHG on land owned by the taxpayers?

The problem with Galway as I see it is that it has expanded too quickly. It is now effectively bigger than Limerick but still has a small town mentality. Virtuallly closing down for race week was fine in the old days. Now it's a joke.

I know I sound very critical. But I do like Galway and really want to stay and make it my city but I can't. It's not that I am particularly in love with moving back to Dublin but I will be financially better off and more secure there. Even my wife, a Galway native admits she is disappointed. She can't leave here job here because there is no alternative for her in this city. If one or other of us lost our jobs we would struggle to replace them in this town.

So I would say come here with your eyes open. Galway can be a great place to live and work but it's not as good as many make out.

JHMEG

cp251 hit the nail on the head! Myself and my wife moved to Galway in the dot-com boom, in 1998. We both work in IT. I hated the crap job I got in Nortel (they pulled a fast one, but that's another story), and it took me 4 months to get another one. IT jobs down there are few and far between, and the pay is poor.

We abandoned it after 18 months, and went east. We were able to buy a house within 6-months as our wages were so much better in Dublin (increased by 40%). [Neither of us are originally from the east or the west]

Was down a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't believe how brutal the traffic has gotten. It took me the best part of an hour to cross the city at 3 o'clock on a weekday afternoon.

On a more positive note, the cos of the sun setting in the west, there can be nice sunsets when it's not raining.

Amazotheamazing

cp251 wrote:

I've been living in Galway for a year now. Moved from Dublin, married a Galway girl. I like Galway but right now am making plans for a move back to Dublin. Galway is a friendly little city with a good buzz and is close to lots of nice places. Quite happy to move but have been disappointed.

Several reasons, jobs are not as plentiful as some people make out. Boston Scientific for example are terminating over 200 temporary contract workers right now. You won't have read that in any paper. All were hired less than six months ago. It takes about two years to be made permanent there. There is talk of redundancies. Pay is poor even for long term employees. 3000 people work for Boston Scientific. The population of Galway is 70,000 or so. That is 4% of the population. Is that healthy?

Read the Galway Advertiser and you think there are lots of jobs but they are most low paid entry level jobs. There are plenty of jobs in certain specialisations but virtually none in most. If your skill is needed you're OK but you will be paid less than in Dublin anyway. I know several couples where one works in Cork or elsewhere because they can't get the work here. I took a huge drop in pay to come here so did my wife. There are also more limited opportunities for promotion. I know many Galway people with college degrees working in low paid jobs simply because there is nothing suitable for them here.

Wages/salaries are below Dublin but the price of living is not. That is the biggest myth going the rounds. Tesco and Dunne's charge pretty much the same so food is not cheaper. Eating out is a little cheaper but not so you notice and as always that depends on the restaurant. Drink is cheaper than in Temple bar! Great for stag nights. Not much good for us moderate drinkers. Petrol is more expensive. Clothes cost the same. Shopping according to wife is not great either. There just isn't the selection apparently which means shopping trips to Ennis, Limerick and Dundrum regularly. New shopping centres are planned.

House prices are lower than Dublin but recently were described as more expensive relative to average wages. In any case they are considered second only to Dublin. House prices in places like Renmore have got seriously silly and Salthill is as expensive as Dublin. Million Euro houses are common. Rents are still relatively cheaper which is good.

Traffic is in my opinion, as a Dub, is worse than Dublin for it's size. In Dublin you can often avoid traffic if you know a way but here you can't. Traffic jams in both directions simultaneously are common. Roundabouts where there should be traffic lights and vice versa. I hate to venture out after two o'clock anyday. It's down to poor planning and traffic management on the part of the city council. Eyre square was a laughing stock and typical of the shambolic planning evident in this city.

Galway is poorly represented by it's politicians. Higgins seems more interested in Iraq or whatever, anywhere but Galway. He's an absent minded poet. O'Cuiv seems the most ineffective minister I've ever seen. He always looks like a man promoted beyond his abilities. The councillors spend more time bickering and grandstanding than working.

The Health service is poor, yet a state of the art private clinic is in danger of closing down because of lack of utilisation in part because of begrudgery and local politics. Meanwhile they want to build another private clinic in UCHG on land owned by the taxpayers?

The problem with Galway as I see it is that it has expanded too quickly. It is now effectively bigger than Limerick but still has a small town mentality. Virtuallly closing down for race week was fine in the old days. Now it's a joke.

I know I sound very critical. But I do like Galway and really want to stay and make it my city but I can't. It's not that I am particularly in love with moving back to Dublin but I will be financially better off and more secure there. Even my wife, a Galway native admits she is disappointed. She can't leave here job here because there is no alternative for her in this city. If one or other of us lost our jobs we would struggle to replace them in this town.

So I would say come here with your eyes open. Galway can be a great place to live and work but it's not as good as many make out.

Some well thought out criticisms there, but so many could be applied to any Irish city I'm afraid. On the jobs point, Galway isn't referred to as the Graveyard of Ambition for nothing, it's not a place anyone should move to for a career, it's a quality of life issue.

cp251

I almost regret writing the above because I genuinely wanted to live in Galway. As amazing says it's a quality of life issue. The quality of life is good. The trouble is that there is a decline in the quality of life in the city. People are moving out to the country because of unaffordable housing and the traffic. Just like Dublin. Unlike Dublin job opportunities are less and pay is less. Comparable jobs in Dublin sometimes pay 50 to 100% more. Even entry level jobs. That in itself is a criticism of an east coast and Dublinocentric (to invent a new word) government. It is true of many towns in Ireland

I was in town today sitting outside a cafe in the sunshine after I wrote the above and there was a definite continental feel, a relaxed athmosphere. Hard to beat and one of the reasons I like Galway. I found myself wondering why I would want to leave. But I struggled through traffic to get there and none of the other reasons have changed.

Like JHMEG I have taken an hour to get from one side to the other. I've done the same in Dublin but Dublin is what... twice, three times as big?

I feel like a smart ass Dub, (actually my family is Limerick originally) slagging off Galway but no one has illusions about Dublin. A lot of people have them about Galway.

JHMEG

cp251 wrote:

but no one has illusions about Dublin. A lot of people have them about Galway.

I think this is a fair summation. We moved there thinking we'd get better quality of life. After a short time it became apparent that neither of us would have job security. And with the price of houses vs salary ratio, it didn't look like we'd be buying any time either.

Quality of life is one thing, but without security of tenure it's useless. Unless you're young, free and easy (aka a student).

Galway is great for a weekend, and I still enjoy going down there every 2-3 years.

kippy

I can see where you guys are coming from above and all of it is understandable.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, in IT at least, the decent jobs just arent there and as you mention, the alleged cost of living isnt that much cheaper.
I know this and I knew this when I moved here. However it is a quality of life issue for me. I know I could be on better money with more prospects in Dublin, but why stop there, I could be on even more money with more prospects in London but I dont really care too much about that-life is too short and getting a healthy balance that keeps me happy is far more important.
The traffic can be bad-galway, being a relatively small city, means that you can walk a fair distance across town in an hour. The problem, like Dublin, is that there are far far too many cars-building more roads or amending existing ones isnt going to imrpove that, in any city. Getting the cars of the roads the is key.
House prices in Galway are still cheaper relative to Dublin-even if wages are taken into account, what the surveys dont mention are commute time and time spent in a car.
For example 4 bed in Lucan, best part of Half a million. Time to "drive" into Dublin City center on a workday-at least an hour if not a lot more-if you were to drive an hour from galway it would bring you a long way into the country, even with traffic. Price of a four bed there, a hell of a lot less-even staying in the city limits, it is possible to buy decent houses for a lot less than a half million.
Personally, I didnt think that Galway could sustain high house prices because of the lack of decent jobs but the fact is lots of people still want to live here, and they are all not students.
Kippy

JHMEG

kippy wrote:

.
House prices in Galway are still cheaper relative to Dublin-even if wages are taken into account, what the surveys dont mention are commute time and time spent in a car.
Kippy

Speaking from my own personal experience, when I moved to the Dublin area my salary went up by 40%. The difference in house prices was only about 10%.

We planned where we would live and work in the Dublin area, and I or my wife would never take a job with strict 9-5 type hours. As a result our commute times are under 25 mins/8 miles. About the same as they were in Galway.

Galway has a reputation that doesn't live up to reality for a lot of people who think they'd like to settle there. And people like us (and cp251 I suspect?) found that out the hard way.

po0k

I agree with the 3 posts above.

Amazotheamazing

SyxPak wrote:

I agree with the 3 posts above.

All 3? there's a bit of contradiction.

Galway is choking due to badly planned new development, it'll be a huge achievement for whoever solves it.

po0k

As are most of western cities.

And it's possible to agree with points made on several sides to a discussion.

Amazotheamazing

Very true.

I'm curious, do native Galwegians see their city improving or getting worse as every year passes? As an outsider I see increased development as a mixed blessing, but a blessing none the less. Areas like Shop street and Dominic street are being killed (imo) but NUIG and GMIT seem to continually improving.

Webbs

As someone who moved from London to Galway and as I don't work in IT I actually saw my wages increase, my commute time go down from 1hr plus to max 30mins, live somewhere with stairs!! I could afford rather than the 1 bed flat for 170,000+ sterling nowhere near a tube. The levels of life stress compared to my life in London is incomparable.

I can play golf, watch rugby, GAA, go to a beach, climb a mountain all within max an hour from the city, hell during the summer I could leave work and be on a boat at the top end of the corrib for a few hours relax.

Now in cities like London and am sure Dublin, these things need more planning and time and more often than not in my case would be put on the back boiler.

Saying that I am in no way saying that Galway is perfect, yes traffic is pretty rubbish for a city this size, there is a desperate need for more infrastructure to places like shannon dublin etc?

However, I was ready to leave London, had been there a long time, if you had said maybe 2 or 3 years ago then I would have said there was no way I wanted to leave the big city lights and all the advantages that entails.

What I guess I'm saying is that everyone will have different views on Galway v Dublin v London, depending on their circumstances re. career, age, priorities (would rather bring a child up in Galway than Dublin) etc