Frequently asked questions 1

Since our move to Dublin I figured out that many people know that I exist. 🙂 Even though I did not hear a word from them in years, suddenly they gave my contacts to a friend of a friend of someone whose friend wants to ask me some things about Dublin.

Some people found me on Facebook, some of them Skyped me and I got a bunch of e-mails with more or less similar questions. I would like to thank them all, as I collected all those questions in this nice article here. So, this is a compilation of about 30-40 inquiries that I answered so far. Most of them asked similar questions with some fine differences. 🙂

Before I ask myself those questions again, I’d like to point out that I am an IT person, I live and work with computers since I was 6 years old. This is quite an important one, as I got 4-5 people asking me if they can find a job here as construction workers, bartenders, security guards and such positions. I’d really like to help them all, and I’ve advised them all to contact local job seekers as I can’t help them yet. Maybe I will be able to do that one day, but I can’t do that now.

Apartment rental related:
– Can I book an apartment from Croatia via phone / e-mail? Can I ask you to go and check the apartment for me and that you book it in my name?

Well. I’d go with the answer “No”, but I am not 100% sure. As there are many apartments on the market, there are many agencies, private lenders and among them there are frauds like everywhere in the world. We personally tried to book an apartment from Croatia, but then we received the same fraud mails sent by “old grannies” whose daughters decided to stay in London after they finished university. So these “old people” need someone to take care about the apartment for just 500 euros per month, but they are in a village away from Dublin, so If we can pay in advance 200 euros as a proof that we really want to live here, granny will come to Dublin and let us stay in the apartment. Well. We almost believed that we are lucky until we got exactly three e-mails with the same content. At that point we decided to find an agency and go with the most expensive but at the same time the safest solution.

– What is an average monthly rate?
It depends where you want to live and where you will work. In the city center it goes from 1000 euros per month for a small one bedroom apartment (c. 50 SqM) all the way to rocket high 2k-3k per month. It is very popular to share apartments in Dublin, as there are many large apartments / houses where you can fit 4-8 people for 2000 euros.

If you don’t mind living a bit outside the centre, you can find a small one bedroom apartment for 700 euros/month and for 1100 euros / month you can even get your own 2-3 bedrooms house.

– Is Dublin safe? What should I take care of when I’m searching the apartment? Are there dangerous zones in the city where no one goes?
Dublin is safe like any other big city. That means, yes there are bad news that you can hear on the radio, yes there are people being stabbed some time, yes there are homeless people on the streets, and yes you can end up in a fight. This does not mean that Dublin is a bad place. It is big, and if you are coming from a small place that can be a thing you will need to get used to. Apparently there are some parts of the town where no one likes to go, but I still can’t tell which ones.

– Do I really have to have an employment contract first to be able to sign an apartment rental contract?
I advise to come here with a secured job and a signed contract. However some people told me that I was wrong and that they got the apartment before they had a job. Still, the procedure of getting all papers needed is easier when you have your job secured. 🙂

Life in Dublin/Ireland related:
– Can I bring my own car from Croatia?
I guess, but in Ireland we drive on the LEFT side. Besides, we are an island quite far away from Croatia. Still, if you feel conformable and you think that bringing car is a better option, why not.

– Is our (Croatian) driving license valid in Ireland?
New EU driving license is valid and accepted here in Ireland. If you have the old one you need to have the international driving license too.

– Do we get medical insurance paid when we find a job?
Working in “offices” of all kinds, yes you get the basic medical insurance similar as you have in Croatia. Still, you have to pay for every medical check. 50 euros is “participation” for every check. Don’t be sick!
I have no idea if this works for all other type of contracts and work positions.

– Average public transportation costs?
There are three main ways to travel here. By LUAS (Tram), by BUS and by TRAIN. There are many options and combinations. LUAS and BUS inside 4 city zones costs around 1 Euro but there are daily, weekly and monthly cards, there are smart LEAP cards (prepaid cards that then deduct money from your account), and LEAP cards are cheaper 18% for LUAS, 17% for BUS and 8% for TRAIN ride than buying single tickets. All in all, maximum daily cap is around 7 euros for LUAS rides, anything after that is for free. So 1-10 euros daily, depending on where you go and what you do. 🙂

– Average food and household expenses cost?
Well, most expenses depend on your life style. You can eat in “all you can eat” restaurants for 6 – 10 euros, and you can grab a lobster for 40 euros per person. I’d say that we spend approx 500 euros per / two weeks.

You can compare cost of living for Dublin and Zagreb here.

– Is it cold? Does it really rains all the time?
Well, no. Our first three weeks here were actually sunny, nice and warm. November was cold but still dry, and since December it rains most of the time. So I’d say 1/4 months was “dry”. 🙂

Besides, people in Dublin swim in the ocean all year. Yep. 🙂

– Is Dublin safe? Will I get beaten in the pub?
As mentioned before, depends of your lifestyle. If you’d like to get beaten, you will. If you have a smile on your face, and go out and have fun you will figure out that Irish are people who like to have a good time and loads of fun.

– Is 2000 Euros/month enough to live in Dublin?
Again, depends on the life style. Dublin is not so cheap place, so 2000 euros / month and living alone is doable, but bear in mind that you will have to pay attention to every euro.

– Do they accept our (Croatian) university diplomas?
We are members of the European Union, no one asked me about my diploma, so I can’t really tell. I guess they do accept them here. 🙂

Job related:
– Do we (Croatian) need working permit?
No, since we are members of the EU and Ireland did not block us, no working permit is required here.

– Is it hard to find the job as… (security guard, waiter, accountant, developer…)?
As I said before, I’m an IT person, working in IT / Software development and I can’t talk about anything else. Great IT companies here need lot of people, but they need personnel from above average to super experts and kung-fu employees. Having said this, there are employees with a master’s degree and some of them with PhD degrees working with me in the team, and in the company. Yes, IT companies in Dublin need good and experienced workers. If you have qualifications, you can easily find a job. Otherwise, not really sure.

– Do companies care about university degree or they care about experience?
Experience and practical knowledge! (But real project knowledge, not some “I-did-a-web-page-once-knowledge”).

– Is XY good company?
Use Google, search boards.ie, how should I know if certain companies in the city are good? I work only in one.

– Is there overtime in Ireland, and if there is, is it paid?
🙂 Croatians and Serbians… some of the first questions is “do we really need to work” :)) Yes there is overtime, and it depends on the company you work for and projects you currently work on if it is paid or not.

– What is some standard annual leave period?
The minimum provided by the law is 20 days, some companies give more.

– How many holidays do they (Irish) have?
Enough 🙂 (Use Google, there are Easter, Christmas, St.Patrick’s and a few Bank Holidays)

– Do we get pension paid when we work?
I guess so yes. From what I understood so far, we only get “minimal” pension as this is the only required by the law, similar to our Croatian pension thing. Some companies then offer pension schemes. (Like our second pillar thing.)