This is a question that I was sent last week by someone. Now not being Irish I can only guess at what family life is like in Ireland – well I don’t have a family here.
But what from what I read and what friends tell me it is good and bad, good mostly for those who bought their house pre 2002 and fairly tough for those who bought their house after this date.
Those who bought a house early have the luxury of living with a smallish mortgage – not so those who bought later. Those who bough later have had a tough time of it all in, they have had very large payments to make, dropping children to school or nursery at 8am and collecting them at 6/7pm.
The second group have always had money pressure and time pressures – not a great way to live. Now bear in mind this is living in or around Dublin – it is likely a bit easier out of the city.
I have had the experience of living in the Czech Republic and Austria, where family life is still more traditional. There most families also have a house in the country where they will spend a lot of weekends.
Life over there seemed to be more relaxed rather than the stressed out living we have. People earn less money, but everything is so much cheaper – the prices in Ireland are still crazy 18months into this recession. Maternity and parental leave in those countries is much better than Ireland – up to 3 years!
If I was to live in Ireland with a young family I would not choose to live in Dublin, but then there are few large cities I would choose to live in in that situation.
Bearing all this in mind Ireland is still a good place to live, esp compared with many places in the UK.