Ireland..... any advice???

Wow, I am loving this site more and more everyday! Thank you guys for your advice. I passed it onto my girlfriend and she will look into it. Oh yeah, by the way, I shld have given more insight on her links to Ireland. She recently got her Irish passport in lieu of being a decendant [grandparents]. This is what made her decide to move. But yeah, I also think she should go visit first before making the move.
Quick question tho, if you guys were to choose, would you prefer to move to Ireland or stay in Britain? Ok i know i am picking on brains here:)

Also, which other cities in ireland are nice to live in?

Quick question tho, if you guys were to choose, would you prefer to move to Ireland or stay in Britain? Ok i know i am picking on brains here:)

Also, which other cities in ireland are nice to live in?

Couldn't really say b/c most of the people here are expats to the UK who have not lived in Ireland.

As for which cities are nice, that's entirely a matter of personal preference.  Some folks don't like cities at all, others like ones of varying sizes. 

If she has an Irish passport then she is alright, I would not recommend coming over to live without getting the legalities in order as they are becoming more stringent on immigration now.

Dublin is very expensive to live and with the exchange rate her dollars won't go far. If you can get ahold of a the most recent Irish Voice they compare NY prices with Irish ones to give an idea.

There's a lot of factors to consider, what are her skills, her job, what does she want to do, how old is she, etc. Limerick is a tough town but a lot of Americans are there because of Dell and other IT companies. Galway is really artsy.

Britain or Ireland, while they seem similar they are two different countries, with different cultures. It's not like you can just interchange the two, you'll be in for different experiences with them even with the similarities. Even living in Belfast is different from the South and different from the UK.

She should visit and start thinking about what she wants to do here. Also does she know anyone here at all?

Yes, but another EU national would probably need to apply for a residence permit etc. whereas a British citizen doesn't even need a passport.  The freedom of movement between UK/RoI has existed since long before the EU came into being

In this day and age of terrorist bombings, etc, I find it hard to believe that if you show up at the port of Dublin or at an Irish airport and they don't require you to show them your passport regardless as to whether you are a British citizen or not.
I'd be rather surprised if you were simply able to show some other British document.

I've only been to Ireland a couples and not for more than a few days.  Dublin is quite a bit smaller than London although the biggest city in Ireland.  There's only about 4-5 million people in the whole country which is dwarfed by the 60 million+ in Britain although obviously the country is smaller in size.  So I understand there aren't any massive population areas like London and I hear there is a smaller town feel in many parts of Ireland.  Please correct me if I'm wrong about this!

Matt

In this day and age of terrorist bombings, etc, I find it hard to believe that if you show up at the port of Dublin or at an Irish airport and they don't require you to show them your passport regardless as to whether you are a British citizen or not.
I'd be rather surprised if you were simply able to show some other British document.

I haven't been over there post 9/11, but last trip about 6 years ago  I wasn't asked for any identification, nevermind a passport.   As I drove off the ferry an immigration officer just wandered up to the car window and the conversation went something like this:

Officer:  "Good morning Sir.  Are you British?"
Me:  "Yes."
Officer:  "O.K., t'ru you go, enjoy your stay."
Me:  "Thank you."

And that was that!          (And I was in a Ford LTD station wagon, so I didn't exactly "blend in" with most of the other travelers.)

Maybe they've tightened things up a little since then, but according to the Oasis government site British citizens still don't require a passport, just as Irish citizens don't need one to come to the U.K.     (That's when traveling directly between the U.K. and RoI -- You need a passport if arriving from some other country.)

I guess if the requirements didn't tighten up during the height of the I.R.A. terrorist attacks in the 1970s they figure we're not going to let a few Middle Eastern terrorists affect us now.    Besides, there are lots of places on the NI/RoI land border to slip across unnoticed anyway if you really wanted to.

So I understand there aren't any massive population areas like London and I hear there is a smaller town feel in many parts of Ireland.  Please correct me if I'm wrong about this!

I'd go along with that.   There are only a handful of cities large enough to have their own Borough Corporations -- Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, maybe one or two more.   There's certainly a small-town/rural feel to much of the country.  

I've not been down to Cork/Kerry or the other farthest southern counties, but I've traveled all across the midlands area, over to Clare and Galway, and up to Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim, and Cavan, and it really does have that small-town relaxed feel.  

Certainly in the hilly, rural areas of Leitrim and Cavan it's very relaxed and friendly, people will just stop in the middle of the road to chat through their car windows, for example.

Yes it is a very small town/rural place. With all that comes with that. People are friendly, but it is hard to make friends, if that makes sense.

Immigration controls at Dublin airport are becoming stricter. There was a time you could waltz through with just a nod and a wave but not so much anymore, both a combination of post 9/11 awareness and Ireland's own issues with immigration and the new immigrants making their home here. Ireland is sort of undecided on whether they like it or not, and it shows a very ugly side to things here.

I wouldn't recommend against moving here, I would just recommend doing not so on a lark -- and I don't know anything about your friend or enough about what her plans are to really offer much advice. It's not as easy a move to make as you'd think, but I don't want to be discouraging.

dublin is fantastically expensive. and quite chic now, compared to how it was in '92, the first time i was there. it was just beginning to crawl up from the economic depression of the '80s. i've been back about 8 or 9 times since the early '90s, and it's more and more cosmopolitan & european with every visit. i love it, but after a few days in the city, i'm veritably aching for the country.

galway is sublime, in my opinion. it's got the draws of a large city, as far as entertainment & shopping & university & accessiblity to travel, but it's also just a short jaunt away from the rugged beauty of the burren, doolin and, further out via ferry from either rossaveal or doolin pier, the absolutely gorgeous aran islands.

 yep, the west is it for me. 

I definitely plan to hit Galway on our next Ireland visit.

My first trip over was with DW before we were married but only made it as far as Dublin and Cork (took the train via Limerick Junction, I think).  Cork was really nice, but smaller than Dublin, of course.  I went back to Dublin for last year's St. Patrick's Day with a friend from the States and it seemed bigger this time around.  Of course, they had half a million for the parade and Temple Bar was jammed at night.  They seemed to be building all over the city and the tram system was going to be built all around the city, I believe.

So the west coast will be a nice contrast to the bits I've seen so far.

Matt

yep, the west is it for me. 

So the old saying about going "To Hell or Connaught" is rather an easy choice for you then?   

So the old saying about going "To Hell or Connaught" is rather an easy choice for you then?   

oh, no contest!!!

We drove into the Republic from Belfast.  Easy peasy.  No border checks at all.  I brought my passport just in case, but Andrew only had his UK license.  Then again, he looks pretty Scots - it'd be hard to take him for much else, especially once he'd opened his mouth.

Generally speaking traveling to and from north/south you will not encounter any immigration checks. The rare occasion you may find a check on a bus or something but really that is not often at all (in fact the one time I heard of that happening was years ago). Border checkpoints are also a thing of the past given the peace process, you will hardly notice you've crossed a border at all unless you are paying attention to the road paint on the side of the road.

However, when you are entering/leaving the island north or south, be it by plane or ferry, you will then encounter an immigration check; what makes it interesting/confusing is going to and from the UK via the north but you can expect to get checked if not every time you cross over at least once in awhile.