Move back to Ireland

Hi Mantonas,

We are also currently living in Malta, with 1 kid and considering relocating to Ireland

Based on our research, until now, unfortunately the prices don't seem similar to Malta, especially in terms of rent and food.

We are budgeting:
- rent: 1,000 EUR
- food: 800 EUR
- utilities: 200 EUR
- plus transport, phone, toys, clothes for kids...

I believe it will be a bit hard at the beginning. With a salary of 35k, monthly net  will be ~2,300 EUR. But definitely, not achievable Good luck!
You already have an opportunity with the job , we are still looking

If you have time and some info, please share some opinions about education - or we'll open another subject. This is one of the painful subjects for us in Malta...

Hi ade7ade,

Many thanks for your reply.

You're right, I know by previous experience that life in Ireland is much more expensive than in Malta and that with only one salary to start with, it won't be easy for sure. However, I might be able to cut a bit from the amounts you mentioned from your research. I plan to find a place as far as possible from Dublin so I can pay a bit less rent. I don't mind to travel for an hour or more to work and my company will also contribute with part of the travel expenses to work.

I will be working nights on a 5 nights in and 4 nights off basis and with a chance of working 2 nights per week from home, which means that on a weekly basis, I would only be traveling 3 times to the office. Our budget plan, would be something like this:

- rent: 800-900 EUR
- food: 400-500 EUR (we don't eat that much)
- utilities: 200 EUR
- transport: 300 EUR
- other stuff: 200 EUR

This comes to about €1700-1900 more or less. It's still a bit tight but I reckon that it's possible. We will also probably be counting with the child benefit for our 2 kids in the beginning which I think would be about €280 per month. This will be some extra cash that might useful just initially until we manage to stabilize our finances.

It will still be a bit of a struggle in the beginning until my wife gets a job but if we manage to organize ourselves properly, I feel it's achievable

Our kids education is one of the reasons that made us think to leave Malta, even though the education system here it's not that bad. I just don't want my kids education to be more focused into the Maltese language than the English, to be honest. It's already painful hearing my son speaking in English with a Maltese accent

I still don't know exactly how will work in Ireland but we have very close friends over there with kids at a similar ages than ours as well, and they will help us with that for sure. I really like Malta in some ways but I just don't see ourselves settling down over here. It will not be easy to get used again to the Irish weather but at least, I feel that in a long term, will be better for all of us.

I will keep in touch if I find something that I feel it might be relevant to you guys also!

Thanks again and good luck to you guys too

Thanks for your reply.

One important mention as I wrote a stupid thing above: "But definitely, not achievable" Wanted to say, Definitely achievable!

We totally understand you regarding concerns of education in Malta. Plus, indeed, we don't feel like settling for long-term here.

However, I have more and more concerns about childcare costs in Ireland.
Found some info:
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ch … 09189.html

My kid is 3.3 y.o so free pre-school (3 hr) will be applicable only in September 2016

But, anyway, let's be positive! ... and continue the research
I will keep in touch, too

Good luck, guys, in the new adventure!

mantonas wrote:

Hi all,

I used to live in Dublin previously but I have moved to Malta about 3 years ago and at the moment, I am seriously thinking in going back to Dublin but I wonder if any of you could give some sort of advice about the actual cost of life over there.
I work for a big company with offices in Dublin too and therefore, I would keep the same job I have here in Malta, so, I would not be looking for another job.

My average salary in Dublin would be between 30-32k per year gross. I know the cost of life in Dublin it's much higher than here in Malta and that's why my questions comes. Do you reckon that with this sort of salary would be ok for a family of 4 (me, my partner, 6 years old son and 2 years old daughter) to live decently?

My partner would not be working initially but eventually, she would also be looking for a job. My work place would be around Cherrywood area but I would be willing to live further away and to spend between 1-1.30 hours to commute from home to work. Also, any suggestions of areas within 20-30 kms distance from Cherrywood that would be cheaper to rent and with easy access to public transport?

Would be great if someone could give me some tips and advice, if possible

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Antonio

Hi mantonas,

We just moved to Malta last month to 'escape' Dublin so I had to give my 2 cents on this topic

First of all, your salary isn't too bad considering most salaries have gone down in recent years. For example it used to be easy to get jobs in customer service paying 40k+ a year for language speakers. Now it's more like 26k to 32k max. During our last year there we lived on one salary (exactly 32k actually) and lived in Dublin 7.

We survived but had almost nothing extra and both had no health insurance for over a year. It was scary and I wouldn't want that again. Going to the GP is expensive, a specialist costs a fortune. If you're lucky your employer pays for a private insurance but even that benefit has been removed with lots of companies. You pay on avg €50 for each visit and even with insurance most plans only give €30 back. Dental is not covered in 90% of those insurances and is also pricey. I do recommend Smiles Dental on O'Connell Street, they were very good with fair prices. There are excellent health clinics and private hospitals but you need a very good plan to be able to go there.

The main cost will be rent. We paid €1400 a month excl. bills for a 2 bed. This was considered CHEAP. I've been monitoring prices since 2012 and 2 beds have gone up from 1200-1400 up to 1800-2000 for a nice standard. Not luxurious by any means but somewhere that doesn't have disgusting carpets and mould! There's been a housing crisis in Dublin for a while and rents have been rising every year - in our case 10%! http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/es … 72188.html

The government is now addressing this and put a freeze in place. For the next four years I believe there can only be rent increases every two years. It's still bad but better than nothing. In general I found the standard of housing to be pretty bad and I lived in the Docklands, in Dublin 15 (Blanchardstown) and Dublin 7 (close to Parnell St).

I know a few people that lived in Sandyford and really liked it. There are nice apartment blocks with a decent standard, an Aldi supermarket and Lidl in Stillorgan is close, too. You'd be on the Green Luas line (just a fancy word for a tram basically ) which makes for a pleasant and efficient commute. It goes directly to Cherrywood (last stop). Sandyford to St Stephens Green can be done in as quickly as 20min. The bus system - whilst not as bad as Malta - leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of employers in Sandyford as well: Microsoft, Salesforce, Sage (fairly new and supposedly creating 300 jobs) and many more.

In terms of your rent budget - I think 800-900 is quite low but it depends how long you want to commute. The further out you get the less buses there are, often just Bus Éireann with perhaps one connection every hour. Plus sometimes these properties are even more expensive - especially if they're in desirable commuter towns.

Food wise Ireland is so much cheaper than Malta. We're spending a ridiculous amount of money since we got here and we eat crap. Ireland we lived healthily and for two people our food shopping was between €220 - €250 per month. We ONLY shopped in Lidl + Aldi though except for meat - there are great butchers in Dublin with better prices than the supermarkets.

Utilities were expensive, too, and now with the water charge will be even more. If you rent a house expect to pay a lot if you heat with gas. We lived in a very well insulated apartment and still paid €100 per month when we heated the place for a few hours every day. In the end we switched to electric fan heaters in two rooms and that was considerably cheaper (only about €15 a month). For our 2 bed we paid about €120 utilities per month.

School-wise it depends where you live really. I've heard good things about it from ex work colleagues who lived in County Wicklow.  On the other hand the few schools I've seen in the city centre always looked like prisons - even primary schools... I can totally understand you though not wanting to have your kids speak English with the Maltese accent!

What really made us leave Ireland (for me nearly 4 years, my partner 9 years!) was the increase of prices everywhere, the reduction of salaries and the weather. Sorry, it had to be mentioned everyone knows of course that Ireland isn't Ibiza but it's so much worse than even the UK e.g. London. It got me down, made me depressed, anxious, you could never plan anything and had to take umbrella + wear lots of layers, no bbq or strolling outside after dark without a thick jacket, etc..

Last summer was the worst - most of July was spent indoors, it was rainy, windy with a feels like temperature of 6 degrees.... not joking.. Now in Malta I'm slowly getting active again, not dreading to leave the house, enjoying the warmth of the sun... it's done wonders for my health, complexion and mood

Sorry for the long post, I hope there's some information in there that could be useful. Let me know if you have any questions

Hi blackangelheart,

First of all, apologies for the late reply to your post, I've been away from the forum for some time now!

Great reply, I must say and to be honest, I have to agree with you in general. We lived in Dublin before (actually in Blanchardstown as well) few years ago back in 2006 and we were already paying about €1200 for a 2 bed apartment in Dublin 15. I did noticed that the rents have increased within the last few years and the salaries were indeed getting lower.

I know what you mean with regards to the cost of living in Dublin and of course the weather, it's not easy to get used to it and as you said, after some time it mentally affects you, for sure. I know my way around in Dublin as we lived for about 3 years over there previously but I just wasn't very sure if things have changed much or not...but from what you have said, it seems like it changed for worse

The company that I work for, actually offers a premium health insurance plan from bupa that covers all the family, which it's pretty good. They also have some other benefits such as pension plan, help with transport costs, etc, which would be a plus and would definitely make a difference. At this point, we still not 100% sure if we will gonna make the move or not as my partner is in the process of getting a job over here (hopefully) and if she does get it, then we would be a bit silly to relocate now as financially, we would be much better with 2 salaries

To be honest, I don't dislike Malta but maybe because in 3 years of being here we only managed to travel abroad once, it could be the case that it's making us feel a bit isolated and suffocated in this tiny island. If we manage to be able to travel with more regularity in the future, it might change our prospective with regards to staying over here for a bit longer.

One of the good things from living in Ireland, was that we were able to get direct and cheap flights to our country quite easily, which does not happen here in Malta. To flight to Portugal from here, we have to make 1 or 2 stops and the prices are also a bit more expensive. This is a nice and quiet place to live and to raise our kids but after a while, it starts to become a bit too small, if you know what I mean

But we will see, nothing it's decided yet and we're not in a hurry to leave Malta as well so we'll take our time and try to make the best and wiser decision, if that comes to happen.

But anyway, many thanks for your feedback and for your tips, were very useful and interesting, I really appreciated

Happy new year to you and your family and all the best

Antonio