Canadian family moving to Ireland 2023 - Best town for young outdoorsy family (2+2 small kids)?

There are a lot of comments here about crime, manly they claim that Ireland is especially safe. This is not true. Cities and towns alike would have crime crime rates that are middle of pick compared with Europe if you look at stats. I'm from a rural area. My house had about four break-ins over the years, but the risks are not extremely higher either. So Ireland is neither very dangerous or very safe.

If I was the OP I'd choose Central Europe, or Iberia over Ireland. You have everything, with much better value, and noticeable safer and far better scenery and nature. Ireland is death zone for ecology. The country has the worst ecological integrity index in Europe.

OP when you say biking and kayaking.

Like whitewater and downhill or just flat water or sea kayak and road biking with few hills.

I ask cus a lot of good whitewater and downhill biking in some areas of Canada. Some areas here better than others. Like Wicklow and Kerry are hotspots. But some areas be a disaster, like most of the midlands.

But plenty flatwater spots.

Into surf?

When you say 90 mins to Shannon or Dublin. That a deal breaker.

Cus lot of those suggestions like Westport are not in there. Or any west Cork. Wexford be a stretch. Cork city be very tight.

No point being near the wrong airport for you.

OP you are hunting for a unicorn.

Nowhere has everything.

Especially the train connectivity, excellent schooling, high educational achievement mix. Apart from the ecologically minded, most people with high education see sharing a vehicle with strangers as failure.

Many of the places named in this thread have good schools. Few would be excellent.

Also, I don't think you have thought thru the implications of community spirit. In short, you don't become part of it just by moving in. Many places will welcome a foreigner who moves in. But close-knit ones will view you with suspicion and exclude you for a couple of decades.

The only place I have seen mentionsed which might meet the criteria is probably athlone. It is on a direct motorway link to both Dublin and Shannon and is also quite near Knock. It is water sports on the Shannon and sits in the middle of open countryside. Houses are available in the price bracket, educationally there are reasonably good schools with a high progression rate to Third Level and a University campus. It is also a town where quite a lot of the people who live there were not born there so there isn't a big "blow-in" culture. For all that, there is crime, some of it quite serious.

A relative moved his family to Canada for a few years and the kids told me that they found the schools there very unchallenging, almost dumbed down in comparison to what they were used to, and they were all glad to get back before starting the leaving cert cycle. Their local school in ireland is just average.

The only thing I ever heard them saying they miss was a bit of wintersports. Mobile phones charges in Canada were supposedly a shocker in comparison to here. The coast being a day trip will be a novelty for most Canadians. I reckon if work location isn't an issue then most towns in Ireland would suit. Some are better amenities than others, like parks or watersports etc.

Having said that I would suggest this as a base line criteria, any town that has at least both a Lidl and an Aldi and a primary care centre probably is a descent size. Bonus points if it's on a trainline or bus route with airport links.

to be fair if he is coming from BC his version of FREEZING is a hell of a lot colder than ours!!

OP,

You could pick most of Ireland and it would tick a lot of your requirements.

You haven't said what your work requirements are i.e. work from home, work in a specialised area etc.

For example, rural broadband is poor. That might affect your work choices. Also, if you work in, for example, aircraft leasing, your housing locations may be influenced accordingly.

Finally, building the one-off house of your dreams in rural Ireland will be very difficult because of very restrictive planning rules. You will probably end up buying one that ticks your boxes or one to "do up" and expand.

Most of Ireland has already been suggested in the posts above and most are, indeed, lovely places. You need to narrow down your search!!

I'd suggest you pick a spot that comes as close to satisfying your needs and rent for a while to find out what it is like. Whilst both Killaloe and Greystones are both lovely places, they are two very different towns.

Shannon and Dublin airport have lots of transatlantic flights, Knock doesn't. I don't know of any other airport that charges you €10 on top of the airlines charges to board a flight.

I'm living in North kerry. It's less than 90 minutes to Shannon. I can see the Shannon estuary from my house.

Is it a holiday home or a home you are after.

When we moved down the advice from friends was no more than 10 to 15 minutes drive outside of town. We are a 7 minute drive and within a stones throw of 7 blue flag beaches. I can see some of them from my house.

Based on your criteria I would go with Ennis. I feel a few of the places mentioned so far are a bit too small.

Ennis is a big town by Irish standards, but not too big either, population approx 12k.

It's near Shannon, has plenty of schools and is very safe. Loads to do in the vicinity and it's near enough to a couple of cities if you needed a shopping trip etc.

No one can tell you on house prices people have been saying for the past 5 years that a drop is coming and they have risen 40 percent from a high base along the coast in Dublin and into parts of Wicklow.

re healthcare ideally you need insurance but a lot employers offer it as part of comp packages.

BC has a lot going for it I’m sure there are parts with lower property prices , may make more sense to explore those than completely uproot to Ireland ?

Large towns within 90 mins of Shannon

Ennis, pop approx 20,000, on a motorway, on a railway line (not great service),

Limerick city - a city, so more choice of schools, more facilities, but higher house prices

Rest of Limerick = No?

Tipp = I can't see anything working out

Kerry = I can't comment on north Kerry

Oranmore = former village, pop now 5,000, affluent, lots of families, but houses expensive, just one school, but a popular place

Galway city, pop 80,000, on both motorway and railway, houses expensive, good schools in demand

EDIT: Athlone, on M6 and railway, close to lake, not an affluent town? Is it 90mins to Shannon?

1) Good community spirit with very low crime-rates. No rough areas nearby. Community is well-educated (large percentage with university education).

Nobody in Ireland thinks like this. Nobody chooses a location to buy a house based on "university education".

Bear in mind that Ireland has very high rates of participation in third-level education (too high in my opinion).

2) The ability to buy a quality, 4-bed, detached house for under 500K euro. Communities that are beautiful and well maintained by their local councils.

You will be disappointed by your local council all the time. Many roads are dug up again and again, the surface is like a patchwork quilt.

In rural Ireland, 250k will but you a 150 sqm detached house in 2021. But in Galway city, that same house will be 450k-500k.

3) Both the town center and fantastic nature within walking distance. Forest, hiking, biking and kayaking are things that we enjoy, but also we enjoy town-life, beers in a lively bar or coffee in a snug somewhere.

4) Excellent primary and secondary schools (schools with state of the art facilities for kids), high percentage of kids going to university/third level education.

The majority of schools have more or less the same facilities, unless you go for a fee-paying school.

5) Excellent Infrastructure for kids, large parks with indoor/outdoor playgrounds, swimming pools, sports clubs etc.

There are loads of sports clubs, and loads of parks.

6) Good proximity to Shannon or Dublin airport (under 90mins preferable)

7) A train-station to major towns/cities (driving everywhere gets old fast).