Moving from Sweden to Ireland

spankmemunkey

See this one gets me!

Ireland wont better any other European country in any department.

Education, jobs, Health system, Governance,

Name a worse european country than Ireland to live in?

Solair

There's a very long list, but I don't want to get down to insulting people!
Ireland has its problems, but almost every country I can think of has its downsides too.

The major concern I would have about Ireland at the moment is that its economy is currently very unpredictable. I wouldn't want to buy property here right now, particularly if it means being tied into a mortgage for a long time.

It has a lot of other positives though. I think all in all the quality of life here is better than in other EU countries I've lived in.

Aspects of the health system are very badly run, A&E in particular, but other aspects are pretty good. It needs to be universally pretty good though before you could rate it as decent.

spankmemunkey

"It has a lot of other positives though. I think all in all the quality of life here is better than in other EU countries I've lived in."

The Quality of life? its what i would say is the worse thing about here and I have also lived in other european countries and this is by far the worst.

The whole social system social life revolves around Alcohol, Drinking and Pubs, if you dont drink your thought of as an alien or somethings wrong with you or a recovering alcoholic.

Oh and dont forget the occurance of RADON GAS, very prevelant in waterford homes way above acceptable levels second highest cause of cancer in ireland behind Smoking.

It seems to be a problem thats more common in Ireland.

Solair

Ireland still, despite the economic mess, rates very highly on things like the Human Development Index, which tries to be an objective analysis of quality of life in many respects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

I've lived in quite a few European countries at this stage and the quality of life in Ireland is quite good by comparison to a lot of them.

Also, radon gas is an issue in any country with rocks in the ground. It's not by any means unique to Ireland. It's actually a major problem right across Europe and North America and any country where there are older houses which can trap radon internally.

The problem wasn't even widely understood until relatively recently, so any European country would have major issues with it as housing stock would be generally much older than the discovery of radiation. I know it's considered to be one of the most frequent (other than smoking) causes of lung cancer in France and the UK too.

It's a significant problem in Sweden too : http://www.thelocal.se/13366/20080730/

Aside from the new legislation, there is good reason for tackling high radon levels as it is the most common cause of lung cancer, after smoking, in Sweden.

Every year, 500 people die as a direct result of exposure to high levels of radon, according to Dagens Nyheter.

Bears and Vodka

spankmemunkey wrote: »

See this one gets me!

Ireland wont better any other European country in any department.

Education, jobs, Health system, Governance,

Name a worse european country than Ireland to live in?

Romania?
Bulgaria?
Baltic states?
GREECE?

Even the likes of England and France are tougher to live in than Ireland.

spankmemunkey

subz3r0 wrote: »

Romania?
Bulgaria?
Baltic states?
GREECE?

Even the likes of England and France are tougher to live in than Ireland.

ah sure i could just pull any countries out of the air with no stats to back it up. so youve picked greece a country on the verge of civil unrest a country thats basicly gone completely t'ts up to compare it to Ireland, thats a pretty obvious one, the others arent really countries that people would tend to move to from other european countries, and what stats have to you back up the England and France are tougher to live in?

Its not a case of them being hard to live in its a case of the running of the country and basic standards being set, like teachers, schools, policing Hospitals, and the basic day to day running of the place, something Ireland hasnt got a clue about. I know a few people who are moving out of here just because of the standard of living and going back to the UK by the way the English were the highest amount of immigrants into the country during the economic boom not the polish like alot of people seem to think.

Still to move from Sweden to a country like Ireland NO NO NO, and then to move to Waterford, very few job prospects here.

Funfair

I can see now why he wants to get out of Sweden, that place is as cold as the North Pole and you can disappear for 2 months without anyone even noticing or caring :eek:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0219/sweden.html

Finnbar01

Zifnab wrote: »

Yes it is incredibly hard.

You need either close relatives or spouse from US.
OR excellent working skills, or doctorates.

The rest of us probably have their best chances with the Green Card Lottery.

So the odds are pretty bad, but still not impossible.

What about Germany? I've heard southern Germany is good for jobs and has a good quality of life?

Dan133269

spankmemunkey wrote: »

See this one gets me!

Ireland wont better any other European country in any department.

Education, jobs, Health system, Governance,

Name a worse european country than Ireland to live in?

I've lived in France, I'm living in Belgium at the moment and I've been to England 30+ times so I've a fair idea of what life is like there. I would say the standard of living and quality of life is better in Ireland than in those countries.

England may have a higher employment rate but they also have higher crime rates and serious problems with multiculturalism and racism.
As for France and Belgium, I wouldn't even need to give you an explanation as to how Ireland is a better country than them.

spankmemunkey

Where abouts have you lived in france? Ive lived there too, ive also lived in germany great country, if i hadnt had bought a house here i would move there in a shot, great country great quality of life! ive also lived in a few other places in europe.

beazee

Zifnab wrote: »

Sure, we got a good healthcare system IF: you work full time, are not sick more than seven days, live in some part of the country with good hospitals or health centers

Here if you can afford private health insurance, the likes of VHI, Aviva; or they come as employers package. Talking of ca. €3K for family of three pa.

Recently got a bill of hospital for three days my son spend there with chest infection - €3920.
A+E admission charge: €60 at WRH
Private Room: €1200 per day

Each visit to a doctor is €50-€60.
You may sign up for a plan with your employer and specified clinic, if he provides one - ca. €400 p.a and each admission fee is €10.

And sure, you get good unenployment funding IF: you worked full time atleast one year, try to get any crap jobs available in the whole country, and pay over 65€ a month to the union.

I am pretty sure you need to produce 104 PRSI weeks paid in order to apply for any state help. This simply translates as two years in employment before you or your family may apply for state benefits. This applies to all new arrivals after 2004.

If you do not put your children at daycare at the age of 1-2, you are concidered a freak.

If you do it here you either can afford €170 pw for full time (9-17), five day a week or are receiving state benefits which lower the fee to ca. €50 for part time (9-12), 5days.

beazee

Zifnab wrote: »

Our rent is (3rooms+bathr+kitchen 84m2: 590€ + electricity 50€ = 640€
4km outside of the city center.

www.daft.ie
It may be hard to find a decent 3bed for low €600. More of €700.
You'll be fine once it has central heating, gas or oil. But still electricity+gas bill combined would be in a region of €350 per two months.

Storage heaters (only electric) may spike up your winter bills to €450 and above (says much of the level of insulation you'll find in boom time built apartments).

I understand that we have cheaper broadband, i pay 27€ for 100/10mb/s

€26 - for 25mb/s plus €6 charge for having broadband only.
www.upc.ie

Public transport within the city limits are 2,69€. Busnet is well connected, atleast once every halfhour during weekdays and daytime.

€1.00 to €1.80 depending on the distance. You pay separately for each ride.
No city bus service on Sundays.

If you want to try to start your own business, or reach for the stars everyone complain and nag about everything that can go wrong, instead of what could go well.

If you really want to start on your own - you just start and hope for the best.
You don't listen to naysayers and do your best to survive for 2-3 years before client database is large enough to sustain your living.

Zifnab

Thanks everyone, even though this thread turned more into: "Why no one should live in ireland"

But i am still not giving up my hopes.
I understand that in for example Dundalk they are looking for swedish-speaking employees.

According to my calculations i would still be better of in Ireland with a job, regardless.

If you want to be well off in Sweden then i suggest you become a criminal.
Inmates gets a salary, better food and medical care than school children or the elderly and education.
If you are guilty of aggravated assult of another man, and dont want to spend your time in prison, rape him afterwards.
Then there is a chance it wont even get to trial, and surely not get you a sentence. if it would well, then you have halved your prison time.

Crime is rising, costs are rising, unemployment rising, company shutdowns rising, paperwork for getting any kind of government help is rising,
If one document is wrong or you missed one hour of work you can have to wait years for any kind of support. The government is turning corrupt (i am sure this is the case for all governments), the newspapers are partial, the court are full of criminals, all the people want to do is drink insane amounts of alcohol and watch ass or reality shows.

Yeaaah, about that.
Drinking problems in Ireland? Not only there.
The northen part of Sweden goes moonshine on the weekends for a two-day blackout. Not uncommon here.
The people are rude, the weather is cold, the newspaper are sensation journalists, the towns are ugly, the schools are insuitable and the rulers are morons.

So please, stop criticize your own country and glorifying mine.

spankmemunkey

Just wondering how often youve been to Ireland?

Ireland has one of the most corrupt governments too!

The last primeminister had a tribuneral that lasted years and cost 100's of millions of euro, The government that was ousted was replaced with a government who made lots of promises and didnt do a thing when in power so they are liars.

Crime is a huge problem here too, life doesnt mean life in Ireland because the prisons are too over crowded.

Alot of Irish people will defend this place because its natural for them to do it

Lin2012

I'm amazed at all the negativity. Sure Ireland has it's problems, and the unemployment rate is depressing right now, we all know that, but Ireland's still a great place to live.
I'm from Sweden so I know what I'm talking about
I love going to Sweden on holidays, but no, I wouldn't move back permanently. The social aspect of living in Ireland is SO different to Sweden. Especially the long winter months... (hibernation anyone?).
And I read Swedish news, if not every day then at least every week, so I know all about the worsening standards of schools and hospitals and the levels of crime in various regions....
I agree that in Sweden it's frowned upon to be a stay-at-home mum, and here it's certainly not. But as childcare is so expensive here it's not always possible to have the choice; if you have two kids or more and have to pay for fulltime childcare it's probably not worth going to work! Lots of us embrace this though and stay home with the kids for a couple of years or until they start school. This precious time with the kids goes by so quickly and you'll never get it back, a nice alternative to fulltime dagis.
My kids are in a great school, nothing bad to say about it apart from having to make lunchboxes everyday- why on earth did we complain about the school canteens when we were kids?!
Of course it's easier to relocate if you have secured employment, but I think you're both very brave to consider this move. Fantastiskt att vidga sina vyer

Finnbar01

Lin2012 wrote: »

I'm amazed at all the negativity. Sure Ireland has it's problems, and the unemployment rate is depressing right now, we all know that, but Ireland's still a great place to live.
I'm from Sweden so I know what I'm talking about
I love going to Sweden on holidays, but no, I wouldn't move back permanently. The social aspect of living in Ireland is SO different to Sweden. Especially the long winter months... (hibernation anyone?).
And I read Swedish news, if not every day then at least every week, so I know all about the worsening standards of schools and hospitals and the levels of crime in various regions....
I agree that in Sweden it's frowned upon to be a stay-at-home mum, and here it's certainly not. But as childcare is so expensive here it's not always possible to have the choice; if you have two kids or more and have to pay for fulltime childcare it's probably not worth going to work! Lots of us embrace this though and stay home with the kids for a couple of years or until they start school. This precious time with the kids goes by so quickly and you'll never get it back, a nice alternative to fulltime dagis.
My kids are in a great school, nothing bad to say about it apart from having to make lunchboxes everyday- why on earth did we complain about the school canteens when we were kids?!
Of course it's easier to relocate if you have secured employment, but I think you're both very brave to consider this move. Fantastiskt att vidga sina vyer

Canteens are/were not very common in Irish schools.

Anyway I'm delighted to know that you've settled in well. I'm shocked and hadn't realised that Sweden has some serious problems. After all, the socialists among us, constantly hold up Sweden's 'success' as a model for us all.

Zifnab

Tack!
someone positive to Ireland, and can accept that Sweden is still in a worsening state.
Jag kommer inte flytta utan att ha ordnat ett jobb.


Sadly, not only ireland use Sweden as a "success-model".
Many countries do, even the Swedish government itself denies to see any faults.

I think it was Spain that used Sweden as an example to encourage women to vaccinate against the swine-flu.
The government said that over a million swedish pregnant women had taken the vaccine.

Well, thats strange when only 100,000 childs are born each year, and this was like, 3months after the vaccine was released.

Surely Ireland is in no walk-in-the-park state, but neither is Sweden.
I do not expect roads paved in gold.

Put for the people complaining about irelands state, why do you not move to Sweden and try it out? Maybe it will fit you better?

spankmemunkey

Well a move to waterford would be a huge move and there isnt any work here, its one of the worst counties in Ireland at the moment, there has been alot of company closures and its suppose to be a governemnt priority at the moment for job creation.

The hospital is closed every second or third week due to infectious outbreak and theres always a long long wait to be seen when you go to AE, A friend of mine went to hispital with pain in his kidneys and he was left waiting for 12 hours in Accident and Emergency

Im just trying to let you know how some things are here!

And i would move out of here but i bought a house here not so long ago and im now stuck here! I would absolutely love love love to move out of here! something alot of the Irish people are doing every week due to the economic state of this country!

younggrinner

Zifnab wrote: »

Tack!
someone positive to Ireland, and can accept that Sweden is still in a worsening state.
Jag kommer inte flytta utan att ha ordnat ett jobb.

If you have a job organised then its certainly worth trying it out. If it works out - happy days. If it doesn't then you can return to Sweden with the experience of having lived abroad.

You can consider what day to day life costs between the 2 countries pretty easily, healthcare, childcare, education etc, but to really get a feel for any place to understand the mindset you need to live there for a substantial period of time and your interpretation of this will depend on you personally. So while I think you'll get some good information on what Ireland costs here you won't be able to find out if it suits you and your family from other people's experiences.

We have lived in Sweden for a number of years and returned to Ireland last year (wanted to try it out before kids started school). We are going back to Sweden for a number of reasons but one of the main ones is the cost of raising kids (2 under 5 years old) in Ireland. Good experience for us otherwise but better off financially in Sweden.

fricatus

spankmemunkey wrote: »

The hospital is closed every second or third week due to infectious outbreak

I'm sorry, but I can't let that one pass without challenging it. I know you're unhappy here and feel you're stuck, but what you're talking about is a couple of closures to visitors as a precaution when there's an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug. The hospital was NOT closed. It just restricted visitors in an effor to protect patients from a very unpleasant infection. This happens all over the country and in other countries too. You're making it sound like the flippin' plague!

spankmemunkey wrote: »

...and theres always a long long wait to be seen when you go to AE, A friend of mine went to hispital with pain in his kidneys and he was left waiting for 12 hours in Accident and Emergency.

I can't tell you that your friend's story didn't happen, but what I can say is that WRH is statistically one of the best in the country for A&E waiting times, and it does this on lower budgets than almost any hospital in the country (all this is on the HSE website). Recently I had a potentially serious health scare, and while my total time in A&E was about 5-6 hours, I would say it took no more than 15 minutes before I was initially seen and the assessment made that I wasn't going to drop dead.

I bet if we examined your friend's story we would find that he was probably triaged quite quickly and found not to be a priority case, hence the wait. That's the way it is with A&E. Sure it's a problem, but such complaints have little to do with Waterford, to get back to the point of the thread.

cjohnenglish

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Name a worse european country than Ireland to live in?

greece

eddiem10

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Well a move to waterford would be a huge move and there isnt any work here, its one of the worst counties in Ireland at the moment, there has been alot of company closures and its suppose to be a governemnt priority at the moment for job creation.

The hospital is closed every second or third week due to infectious outbreak and theres always a long long wait to be seen when you go to AE, A friend of mine went to hispital with pain in his kidneys and he was left waiting for 12 hours in Accident and Emergency

Im just trying to let you know how some things are here!

And i would move out of here but i bought a house here not so long ago and im now stuck here! I would absolutely love love love to move out of here! something alot of the Irish people are doing every week due to the economic state of this country!

If its so bad why dont you offer our Swedish friend a house swop for a few months?

spankmemunkey

fricatus wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I can't let that one pass without challenging it. I know you're unhappy here and feel you're stuck, but what you're talking about is a couple of closures to visitors as a precaution when there's an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug. The hospital was NOT closed. It just restricted visitors in an effor to protect patients from a very unpleasant infection. This happens all over the country and in other countries too. You're making it sound like the flippin' plague!




I can't tell you that your friend's story didn't happen, but what I can say is that WRH is statistically one of the best in the country for A&E waiting times, and it does this on lower budgets than almost any hospital in the country (all this is on the HSE website). Recently I had a potentially serious health scare, and while my total time in A&E was about 5-6 hours, I would say it took no more than 15 minutes before I was initially seen and the assessment made that I wasn't going to drop dead.

I bet if we examined your friend's story we would find that he was probably triaged quite quickly and found not to be a priority case, hence the wait. That's the way it is with A&E. Sure it's a problem, but such complaints have little to do with Waterford, to get back to the point of the thread.

HA HA HAHA AHHA AHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ONE OF THE BEST ON THE COUNTRY! how come its closed every second week? how come theres such a high instance of MRSA there? I know someone who had serious pain in his kidneys and he did have to wait twelve hours, I told him that it was so rediculous because his kidneys could have exploded, he said he was left waiting for 12 hours! ive heard nothing but nightmare stories from this place and im someone who has alot of contacts in this area.

I also knew someone who went into that place was open for 8 hours, operation was a huge success, however because the patient was open for so long he was basicly full of MRSA and he died from that, operation was a complete Success however MRSA took over, I know someone who is very sick after having a baby got MRSA there, If i ever get sick im not going there no way! I know of two stories of women who were going into labour while in the labour ward and were told your not going into labour dispite claiming they were, the women were then gone too far to have an epidural and had to have a baby without pain relief due to a staff error, one of these cases went to court and then the story that i am closely familiar happened after, If you knew some of the stories i have seen and heard which i simply cant post on here youd be shocked, you were lucky.

I do like this country however i am extremely angry at some of dont care attitudes and how things dont work as they should, the basics which need to work in order for the rest to follow, In almost every department of governance and its always passed on to someone else to blame, I would leave if i was in a position to do so, I do hope it gets better, i do accept that people dont like what i am saying, but we should expect more as citizens we should demand more, the less we demand the less will be done, the more we demand the more will be done.