Ireland vs UK quality of life

LordSutch

zweton wrote: »

guys, currently living in edinburgh and was considering bristol as a change.
Have any of you been/worked there?

Bristol's alright I guess, although I haven't lived there, but with places like Bath on your doorstep Bristol would be a very nice 'launch pad' & a change of scenery.

The West Country, Bristol channel, Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, very nice.

zweton

Yeah that's what I was thinking.

mzn

Thats incredibly terrifying inputs here !

David6330

I'm thinking in moving back to the UK. With Brexit and all that it's hard knowing what to do.

My quality of life was better there than here in Ireland. Anyone make the move back and how are you finding it?

zweton

In what way was quality of life better in uk? Are you currently in Dublin?

lufties

David6330 wrote: »

I'm thinking in moving back to the UK. With Brexit and all that it's hard knowing what to do.

My quality of life was better there than here in Ireland. Any

David6330 wrote: »

I'm thinking in moving back to the UK. With Brexit and all that it's hard knowing what to do.

My quality of life was better there than here in Ireland. Anyone make the move back and how are you finding it?

David6330 wrote: »

I'm thinking in moving back to the UK. With Brexit and all that it's hard knowing what to do.

My quality of life was better there than here in Ireland. Anyone make the move back and how are you finding it?

Hiya, it really depends on where in the UK. Having spent the best part of 4 years in London, I'd say don't bother coming here if you are hitting the wrong side of 30. The problem is London is where most of the work is.
If I was moving back to Ireland, It would have to be Dublin, don't think I could handle anywhere else coming from a city like London (thats not being snobbish as I tried Limerick already). Also, I'd need about 30k in savings as a cushion, you can guarantee the best part of 10k will be spent on getting set up in Ireland. That's the reality of it. 
The UK (outside London) is much gentler on the pocket.

David6330

zweton wrote: »

In what way was quality of life better in uk? Are you currently in Dublin?

For my hobbies, the UK was excellent in that regard. Here it is very limited to the point its hard to continue them.
Jobs that match my interests are much better over there too.

I'm not working in Dublin.

David6330

lufties wrote: »

Hiya, it really depends on where in the UK. Having spent the best part of 4 years in London, I'd say don't bother coming here if you are hitting the wrong side of 30. The problem is London is where most of the work is.
If I was moving back to Ireland, It would have to be Dublin, don't think I could handle anywhere else coming from a city like London (thats not being snobbish as I tried Limerick already). Also, I'd need about 30k in savings as a cushion, you can guarantee the best part of 10k will be spent on getting set up in Ireland. That's the reality of it. 
The UK (outside London) is much gentler on the pocket.

I'm looking at moving back to where I was living before, which was over an hour outside the M25. It is a nice area of the country. I could never live in London.

To be fair the south east isn't gentle on the pocket unless you happen to own your own house. That's the bit that's putting me off. Houses are way overpriced.

nogoodnamesleft

Its a difficult question to answer as its very subjective based on where you live in the UK. London obviously is more expensive but have more going on than say further North/Midlands. 

I generally think the working conditions here in the UK are far better than what I was accustomed to back in Ireland based on the professional role within the industry I work in. The employment market is more buoyant, has better opportunities and faster to progress and advance from what I have experienced. Back home there is a mentality of "your lucky to have a job" should you raise or broach issues with management. Then there is the parish pump politics of who knows who or who is related to whom back home.

As a rough comparison:

• Min Annual leave: Ireland: 20days vs UK : 28 (inc bank holidays). Some industries also give additional annual leave based on years of service.
• Working week: Ireland: 39.5h vs UK 37.5h (it was 40h in the past).
• Pension: The Uk government also has an auto enrolment scheme for pension funds. Which put an onus on the employer to offer a scheme as well as minimum thresholds for them to contribute which is set to rise to 3% by the employer alone in 2019. Many employers offer a matched employer contribution based on the employees contribution (up to 8-10% is common).
• Paid overtime in the UK is not a myth (from my experience).
• Defined work boundaries (i.e. no calls outside of work for a quick chat which can end up being like on call for free!).

kevinc565

there about 70-80 urban areas in Britain bigger than Galway\Limerick. We have 2 Dublin\Cork or 4 if you cound Belfast\Derry.

but you'll always be a foreigner there. depending on your age you'll likely hook up with a local and spend the rest of your life there.

kevinc565

So including bank holidays it's IRL 29 versus Great Britain : 28
Or if you include Good Friday which is a day off for most professionals in ireland it's IRL 30 versus GB 28.

Beasty

It depends on where you work as to whether you get 20, 25 or indeed 28 days holiday in either the UK or Ireland. I started off my current job in the UK on 20 and eventually progressed to 28 which I still have in Ireland. I did though find it more difficult to actually find the time to take off and gave up quite a number of days in the UK. You can get flexible benefits with a lot of employers in the UK allowing you to buy or sell holidays back subject to taking the statutory minimum of 20 days.

I found work much more intense in the UK. There are some great places though and the likes of the North and South West are very similar to Ireland in terms of work/life balance. There is no way I would ever have worked in London but I did work in both Leeds and Manchester and I'm not seeing a massive difference over here in Dublin.

Good Friday is treated pretty much the same in both with banks and offices generally making them paid holidays.

kevinc565

you stated that it was 20 in ireland versus 28 in britain( incl bank holiday) that statement is prone to misinterpretation.
either include bank holidays in both figures or in neither. minimim days are 28 in GB including bank holdiays and 29 in ireland including bank holidays.
obliviously employers are free to give more days annual leave than the legal minimum.
i live\work in britain.

flatty

I'm in the UK for the last 20 years near enough, Glasgow then north west England. I have a beautiful wife and two kids settled in school, a great job, a thriving business, and want for nothing.
I'm happy out.
I have a few acres back home and we get home two or three times a year on top of proper holidays.
I'm thinking of moving back.
Am I insane?

lufties

Beasty wrote: »

It depends on where you work as to whether you get 20, 25 or indeed 28 days holiday in either the UK or Ireland. I started off my current job in the UK on 20 and eventually progressed to 28 which I still have in Ireland. I did though find it more difficult to actually find the time to take off and gave up quite a number of days in the UK. You can get flexible benefits with a lot of employers in the UK allowing you to buy or sell holidays back subject to taking the statutory minimum of 20 days.

I found work much more intense in the UK. There are some great places though and the likes of the North and South West are very similar to Ireland in terms of work/life balance. There is no way I would ever have worked in London but I did work in both Leeds and Manchester and I'm not seeing a massive difference over here in Dublin.

Good Friday is treated pretty much the same in both with banks and offices generally making them paid holidays.

Yeah it's all relative, depends on what you want, and the industry your in. If you can land 60k a year in a job in Leeds, your laughing. Then again the trade off is family and friends friends.
In my own case I found Ireland too much of a rip off, everything from bank charges to car tax, to healthcare. Being a bit of a conservative, the new lefty\feminist agenda in Ireland gave me that extra nudge

kevinc565

Move back give it a try. Make Ireland great again. large scale emigration becomes a vicious circle. the more that leave causes more to leave. and its both push and pull.
if you're wife is Irish I'd say it would be easier to move back if not perhaps more difficult. can you maintain your standard of living if you move home?

dd972

The English are just like us up in and around Leeds or Manchester, not like those sour pusses in London and the Home Counties, if you get a Ryanair from one of those two airports you'll be back in Ireland in 25 minutes despite it being scheduled as an hours flight. Cheaper better value property and better air as well, they've got their inner cities and rough parts like Dublin has but it's a myth that the North of England is one giant Burnley.

lufties

dd972 wrote: »

The English are just like us up in and around Leeds or Manchester, not like those sour pusses in London and the Home Counties, if you get a Ryanair from one of those two airports you'll be back in Ireland in 25 minutes despite it being scheduled as an hours flight. Cheaper better value property and better air as well, they've got their inner cities and rough parts like Dublin has but it's a myth that the North of England is one giant Burnley.

Funnily enough, my Liverpudlian work colleague (in London) tells everyone 'its grim oop norf' so southerners wont get notions about moving up for cheap property, and spoil the place lol.

If you can get a decent job up north you'd be sorted.

lufties

flatty wrote: »

I'm in the UK for the last 20 years near enough, Glasgow then north west England. I have a beautiful wife and two kids settled in school, a great job, a thriving business, and want for nothing.
I'm happy out.
I have a few acres back home and we get home two or three times a year on top of proper holidays.
I'm thinking of moving back.
Am I insane?

Stay where you are I'd say. I moved back in January but ping ponged back to England after 6 months. Nostalgia and rose tinted glasses brought me back to Ireland, but it was ultimately a bad decision.

Canis Lupus

flatty wrote: »

I'm in the UK for the last 20 years near enough, Glasgow then north west England. I have a beautiful wife and two kids settled in school, a great job, a thriving business, and want for nothing.
I'm happy out.
I have a few acres back home and we get home two or three times a year on top of proper holidays.
I'm thinking of moving back.
Am I insane?

Yes you're insane. If you lived in Australia I'd still say you were insane but I'd understand being so far away from everything but you're next door. Stay where you are and enjoy your life.

flaneur

I think the difference may be that we have just been through a fairly massive recession. There’s still an element of that mentality but it will rapidly adjust as you hit full employment again.

The UK wasn’t hit anything like as hard as we were and it’s also very much sector and company specific in terms of attitudes and atmosphere.

server down

flaneur wrote: »

I think the difference may be that we have just been through a fairly massive recession. There’s still an element of that mentality but it will rapidly adjust as you hit full employment again.

The UK wasn’t hit anything like as hard as we were and it’s also very much sector and company specific in terms of attitudes and atmosphere.

That doesn’t explain it. We are supposedly at full employment but it still feels like you are lucky to have a job in Ireland.

I would say, having moved from Bristol to Dublin, that I gained in gross income and lost slightly in quality of life. I don’t get the people who say the uk is high waged.

flatty

UK isn't high waged bar the finance sector, and even that is skewed by a few at the top. Money goes further here though. I'd not move back now I don't think until the kids were finished school, but brexit is an appalling thing from every standpoint, and is an utter shambles also.
It's also a bit of a last chance saloon with the kids in that if we move now, the elder could start in secondary school.
They are happy out here in school, but we pay 25k a year school fees, which is a decent wedge.
I'd love them to grow up Irish. That'd be worth a lot. We would still have plenty if we moved home, but it would be tighter. Wouldn't bother me, but my wife is English and doesn't really want to move. She is appalled by brexit though, and will, for the first time, move, and is looking for work.
It's likely that work would take us to the midwest.
At present we live in an affluent suburb of Manchester.

flaneur

server down wrote: »

That doesn’t explain it. We are supposedly at full employment but it still feels like you are lucky to have a job in Ireland.

I would say, having moved from Bristol to Dublin, that I gained in gross income and lost slightly in quality of life. I don’t get the people who say the uk is high waged.

Yeah but we are only barely a year or so out of the unemployment panick. It takes a little while for these things to bed in.

Once people are feeling a lot more comfortable and confident about being able to switch jobs, employers realise they no longer have the upper hand.

It’s been an employers’ market since 2008.

Give it 6 to 8 months more and that will shift substantially.

irska1700

I'm living in Ireland last 3 years and planning move to UK.
I'm moved to Ireland from another Europian country and I'm happy for all experiences and given opportunity here - but now Its time to move to UK.
Since I move to Ireland - I notice that rent is higher every year and I think it's insane, people who are claiming bennefits - and dole- they get support, me - Im working for minimum wage - I dont get anything - even I cant have medical card in return- because Im not using dole.

I'm living in Galway and I'm sharing house and I can't imagine my future life living in village around Galway with husband and kids because we won't be able to afford to pay rent in Galway.
I'm single now and maybe its funny how I'm thinking 5-10 years in future, but I think its mature and that the reason why I decide move to UK.

More urban areas, bigger population, more jobs...
Ireland has only 4 bigger towns and Dublin - public transport is not very good and rent are crazy there - 1.500euro for studio apartment?

Wich UK city or town would you compare to Galway, or wich you find cheaper for rent for young girl who wants to finnish college?

edit: One more thing to add. I worked for 2 years in the same working place for minimum wage - fast food - and Ive been on holidays only 8 days in a year and 7 days year before.
When I asked extra weekend off because I was going on wedding day of my friend - in another EU country - soo I asked friday to sunday - only 3 days off - my manager said to me - ooo but you are back from your 8days holidays - and now asking again.
Do I need mention that other workers use weeks off when they cheated their wifes- or when "child was sick" of when they been taking weekends off for having hens party..
Soo that totally pissed me off.
I dont understand why they are planning to build again 4 bedrooms houses - who is going to live there. Irish people are leaving Ireland, foreigner people are leaving Ireland - are they that kind of houses for people on dole - who are just making kids and doing nothing?
In Ireland - it needs to be build more BUILDINGS with one bedroom or 2 bedroom apartments - because new generations are having 2 kids max and because all students and high skilled professionals - they dont wanna live in sharing like a students, they wanna live like in UK - in normal building and have privacy. This is crazy - this housing crisis pissed me off.
Thank you.

I dont expect to be billionaire in UK - but If I can pay 500pounds apartment and live alone inside or with partner - I find better quality of life - comparing to Galway where Im happy to have only 1 house mates and I cant move anywhere else in Galway because all prices are insanse..

lemmno

Leeds is similar to Galway I found. But cheaper.

flatty

Sheffield is cheapish and OK.
You'll need to be aware that vast swathes of northern England are rough enough.
If I were you, I'd look at Glasgow also. Scotland is really decent.

irska1700

lemmno wrote: »

Leeds is similar to Galway I found. But cheaper.

flatty wrote: »

Sheffield is cheapish and OK.
You'll need to be aware that vast swathes of northern England are rough enough.
If I were you, I'd look at Glasgow also. Scotland is really decent.

Thank you.
I decide first move to Belfast, because im still close enought to my friends if something "goes wrong" and then when I will have NIN and UK bank account - I will move to UK.
Thank you :o:o

flatty

I think Belfast is a decent choice fwiw. Please God it will stay that way.

irska1700

flatty wrote: »

I think Belfast is a decent choice fwiw. Please God it will stay that way.

Thank you. Ive been in Belfast for a day trip and really loved, also my highschool friend is also moving with me to the Belfast, and she worked in county Kerry in the small village by the sea, soo It will be good change for me and her :cool:

I have some friends there and still I will be close to friends who stayed in ROI.

Its soo hard to leave Republic of Ireland after I find social circle here, but I will still be close to them