Moving to Dublin

For years Dublin was a peripheral European city, a charming backwater of sluggish industry and good alcohol until its unprecedented and surprising rise at the centre of Ireland's blossoming economy. The job market so used to Irish expats suddenly all wanted to expatriate to Dublin.

The perception of a quaint green city was turned on its head; the New York times quoted an Irish repatriate, 'I left a godly land of broke but merry alcoholics and came back to a place where people who used to dig potatoes were buying luxury apartments sight unseen and driving Porsches.' Yet Dublin's successes didn't last and recently the city has returned to something in the middle of both its productive and despairing pasts.  

 

Remnants of the boom times in Dublin still exist including many construction developments, some unfinished, but more importantly the offices of many international companies. Ireland's strong ties to America's economy made Dublin akin to a frontier trading post to the rest of Europe. Its substantial IT industry, backed by large international companies, continues to draw expats to work in Dublin from both American and the rest of Europe. 

In a country not adverse to hardships Dublin has its share. The cost of living in Dublin remains high although costs have become more reasonable than at the height of the 'Celtic Tiger' boom times. Cramped living quarters and expensive property prices can be difficult to adjust to and, except for expats from the UK, the grey weather can be dispiriting - although the city gets less rain than the rest of Ireland. However, in true Dublin fashion, most of the hardships of Dublin can be best beaten at the local pub.

Dublin today has transformed to a cosmopolitan city at the centre of the action, whether welcome or not. It has opened up as an international city but still retains a trodden Irish feel more comfortable with a hideaway restaurant or bar than with newer glitz and glam.