Ennis - good place to move to?? Scots bloke moving from Mongolia with his family...

drussell

Greetings from far away....Me and my family are moving to Ireland in December. I am Scottish/British - wife is Mongolian. We live in Mongolia and have 3 kids, dual passports - after a lot of research, Ennis seems good in-terms of rent cost and job availability. Maybe wrong? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Deagol

Pertinent question first, what do you do? Any qualifications / experience in anything? Unemployment is running around 9% here so jobs are hard to come by.

XR3i

drussell wrote: »

Greetings from far away....Me and my family are moving to Ireland in December. I am Scottish/British - wife is Mongolian. We live in Mongolia and have 3 kids, dual passports - after a lot of research, Ennis seems good in-terms of rent cost and job availability. Maybe wrong? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

THERE LOADS OF MONGOLIANS IN CLARE

Balagan

drussell wrote: »

Greetings from far away....Me and my family are moving to Ireland in December. I am Scottish/British - wife is Mongolian. We live in Mongolia and have 3 kids, dual passports - after a lot of research, Ennis seems good in-terms of rent cost and job availability. Maybe wrong? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Job availability is not great. Always promises of more companies moving in but likelihood is of having to travel for work. Rents are getting higher - anything from €650 on up for very average accommodation.

Important that you be entirely familiar with rules on social assistance payments in case it takes time to get a job. Be clear about the differences between the right to live in Ireland and what you will have to do to qualify as being habitually resident and qualify for social assistance payments. These links may be helpful
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/social_assistance_payments/residency_requirements_for_social_assistance_in_ireland.html
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/social_assistance_payments/social_assistance_in_ireland.html

Questions about the issue of payments and residency can be put on a different forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=861

fryup

check out Killaloe, lovely town lovely scenery lovely people close to Limerick (for jobs and retail)

dennyk

What's your field? Dublin generally has the most jobs, but also ridiculous housing costs. Cork's probably second as far as professional positions go, with Limerick being third. Ennis is pretty small and may not have much available, but again, depends on what you do. You may want to look for a job before moving, if you can, and especially before arranging long-term accommodation.

If you can find a job in Limerick and you drive, Killaloe is great. It's a 30 minute drive to my job from here, mostly motorway, and the town itself has a decent amount of amenities: grocery stores, pharmacies, a general store, a big hardware store, a post office, a doctor, dentist, and eye doctor, schools, daycare, a weekly farmer's market, several restaurants, and lots of pubs. Also high-speed Internet. Not a whole lot on the rental market here at the moment, but you might get lucky.

Mikefitzs

Ennis is a reasonable place to live if you don't mind some travel for work and low wages.
Ennis is fairly rural although the local townies think they live in a major city (probably not too many of them been further than Dublin) :-)
25000 population.
No traffic jams (except the 5 minute delay on the school run)
Very little manufacturing, pharma, Data/Tech jobs in Ennis.
15 mins from Ennis by car is Shannon, this would be the employment centre of the area. Shannon airport and industrial estate with a variety of jobs from aircraft maintenance to financial companies and medical device manufacturing based there.
You will struggle to find a good house to rent at good value right now. Good area 3 bedroom semi would be min €750/mth if you can find one.
Some good sports facilities and sports clubs. Deep tradition of Irish sport of hurling.
If you're not into playing sport its hard enough to find things to do for entertainment.
No retail park.
No major shops such as Argos.
No brand shops like Hilfiger, H&M etc.
No horse racing.
No dog track.
No car track.
No karting track.
No third level college or Uni.
No bus service running inside the town (we do have bus and train links to other towns and cities) and taxi's can be expensive.
No emergency room at the local hospital, (just a room to go if you sprain your ankle).
BUT there are plenty of pubs and good nights out BUT pubs are very expensive nights out.
We have a public swimming pool with gym attached (no slides or extras, just a pool).
We have a cinema, not too big but adequate.
Shopping would be Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Lidl & Aldi along with convenience shops.
Plenty of small bespoke shops to browse around but 2 hours on a Saturday and you've seen them all.
Less than 30 minutes from Limerick (lots of shops) and less than 1 hour from Galway (more shops) Less than 2 hours from Dublin (too many shops).
Low crime rate and some very good schools.
To be honest if you have a fair household income approx €40k+ then Ennis is a nice place to raise a family in relative peace and quiet. Always only 25 minutes from great beaches.
Forgot to mention we have 2 golf courses and more within 30 minutes drive.
Also got a bowling alley.