Help needed, cost of living in ireland?

Question

I'm a qualified accountant from Pakistan and presently looking for a job in Ireland thru headhunters. Although there are a lot of opportunities available in this beautiful country, I need answers to a few questions before finalising anything. Pls help...

1. I'm targetting annual salary of euros 90k-100k. Would it be enough to live a reasonably good life there with a wife and a school going son. I would prefer Dublin or Galway to work.

2. I need an idea of average monthly expenditure for our family (2+1). Can anyone provide the following estimates.
- Accomodation (rent/mortgage whichever is less)
- Utilities
- grocery etc.
- child education
- any other major expenditure I have missed

3. I would target monthly saving of euros 2K. would it be realistic?

4. I am a highly educated person with no religious biasness. Would I face any social problems (being a Pakistani)? I have head that Irish people are very warm and friendly.

5. Any other advice anybody wana give?

This fellow Orla C has given a detailed and informative reply. I still need to know the expected average monthly expenditure for the family. Any other friend wana add something?

Answer 1

Orla is a girls name (just so you know when you get here)

Good luck with you getting a salary of 90-100K, but I suppose it depends on where you look, I'm part qualified and earn a lot less, but some of my qualified friends earn about 65-70, but we work in the public sector, so get extra benefits such as additional annual leave, flexi time etc. In the private sector you can earn more, but you work longer hours, I work a 35 hour week, I couldn't imagine working a 40 hour week at this stage (I'm getting lazy LOL)

The average price of a house is €400,000k in Dublin, that should get you a 3 bed house, but it depends on the area you want to live, some, as Orla has mentioned,are nearly €750k. Rents are expensive, average €1200-€1500 per month, a mortgage is nearly the same as renting (but without the added tax relief)
Utilities are charged every 2 months, electricity on average about €80, gas approx €200 (depending on usage). Food can be expensive, a family such as yours might spend an average of €250 a week. Child education is mostly free, but you'll have to buy books and uniforms. Other expenses are trasport, public transport is cheap, petrol prices have just risen, they are now €1.18 a litre.

Ireland has become extremely multi cultural in the last 5 years, the fact your from Pakistan should not make a blind bit of difference when you get here.

www.britsinireland.com is aimed at our biggest cultural minority (if you can even call the British that) but it might answer a lot of your questions.

As much as I love Galway you'll have a better chance of earning the money you're looking for in Dublin, and I'll warn you now, fill you car up with your fav CDs because the traffic is a nightmare. it takes me an average of one hour to travel 17klms to work

Answer 2

You'd need that salary to live in Dublin, and you might be able to save. Galway I'm not so sure. You could look into other cities also: Limerick, Cork, Kilkenny or Waterford. To be honest, I couldn't tell you if you will get that salary at the moment.

Mortgage: at the moment the cost of buying has levelled off, now would actually be a good time to buy, I think, if you can afford to. In Dublin, large converted shoeboxes are going for €750,000 (that's right, three quarters of a million euro) or more, and a friend of mine has just had her rent upped, despite the slump in the housing market. I'm not sure about prices in Galway at the moment, but I do know that prices in Cork, Kilkenny and even Waterford are approaching those of Dublin, and that Limerick has the best value (I live near Limerick, so I am a little biased). If you have your heart set on the Dublin area, find a place close to one of the local train stations and commute to work by train.

I spend about €100-€150 a month on groceries, but we are two adults and are rather picky about what we eat.

Utilities - oil is an atrocious price, as is petrol for your car. You'd easily pay €1500 a year in home heating oil, and yesterday I filled up a 1.4 litre engine for just over €40 - and Ireland has the cheapest petrol in Europe.

If you get a car, not only will you have to insure the thing, which can be very expensive if you have no insurance history, you also have to tax it and make sure it has an NCT (like the British MOT, only more thorough) certificate. I advise asking around when you get there to find a good and reliable dealership - when it comes to cars there are a lot of cowboys.

Can't help you with child education, but if you're prepared to let your child go to a State school, then it shouldn't be too expensive.

As regards bias against you, yes, most Irish are very friendly towards other cultures, but you do come across some real redneck types, unfortunately. Also, without intending any offence at all, people do make assumptions (I too am guilty of this) based on what they see in front of them. What I would be concerned about is what's going out on the news with regard to Pakistan at the moment, and it may be that you are, to coin a phrase, tarred with the same brush. That said, there have been a lot of Muslims from the Middle East living here for about 15 years, and they have been largely accepted, despite all the bad feeling brought across by the media about the Muslim community.

There are a lot of Asians in general living here, families also, and professionals. You should be alright.

Oh, if you do go to live in Galway, you'll need to spent a fair bit on rainproof clothes and shoes. It's very cold, windy and dampy there in the winter (and often in the summer too).

Best of luck with the move.

Answer 3

orla got it all wrong!! that is an excellent wage to live in Dublin, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter!!
you could live a very nice life with that kind of money!
i live in dublin and my dad earns nothing in comparison!

a house can cost anywhere from 3000,000 to 750,000, but they wont be a shoebox like the first person suggested! my house is valued at 300.000 and its a 3 bed, i am moving into a house that costs 415,000 and its a 3 bed 3 story 4 bath!
groceries would be about 100meuro, depending on where you shop, it could be as low as 80 but as high as 200 if you want really posh food!

child education is extremely cheap, primary and secondary school is free (uniforms, books supplies etc not included, all that might cost about 200 euro)
secondary school is the same but might cost more like 3200 euro (presuming you want your child to go to public school

i think your saving rate is realistic depending on the lifestyle you want to live, if you want an above-average lifestyle it is a little high!

i don't think you would experience any racism in the workplace over here, we are very accepting (most f the time), and the fact that you speak very good English is great!

i don't think there is anything more too add, other then the other two answers were a little unrealistic in my opinion, they were a little exaggerated!

Answer 4

can i have the name of the shop where the first person to reply goes? €100 -150 a month on food. i spend that in a week on 2 adults and 2 children aged 9 and 3. and no we're not clinically obese, thats just proper dinners and good butchers meat etc.

and another thing, i just paid my esb bill a few days ago and it was €220 for the 2 months. oil heating is another €600 - 800 for one winter.

finally, contrary to popular belief, education is not free. at the start of the school year you have to buy books, uniforms, school tracksuit, shoes, runners and copies etc. then you have to pay so much for photocopying, art expenses and sundry expenses to the school. after a while they bring home a letter for swimming lessons(i just got one yesterday - another €60+) and they might also do hurling the following term (helmet €75 approx unless you have a kindly sister who wants to donate one that has got too small for her young fella) and the list goes on....................

Answer 5

A guy I know who is a quailified accountant (qualified in south africa) cant get work in ireland as the eu wont recognise it