Yeah, Dublin architecture is by and large drab and grey. The Georgian stuff is nice and the newer stuff around the Liffey provides some welcome relief, but by and large Willempie is right.

Dublin is a very liveable city, in my opinion. Scale is reasonable, people are friendly, culture is vibrant, sea / mountains (loosely defined) / countryside very close by etc. It probably won't keep you entertained forever, but for a few years posting, one could do a lot worse...

Re healthcare, I'm sure Scandi public systems are not exactly the Mayo Clinic - overworked and underpaid seems to be a universal phenomenon (OK, maybe Norwegian system is like the Mayo Clinic  ). At one stage, there were many Finnish nurses coming to Ireland due to the pay disparity. Still, I know where I'd rather get ill...

The Irish system has certain unique elements that make it particularly useless:

First, you had a system of 11 Regional Health Boards administering public health, which is lunacy in such a small country. Lots of duplication, patronage, gombeen politics, etc. Then the Health Service Executive was introduced to replace these, but in practice, it just added another layer of bureaucracy, so you have large sums of money being poured into the system, but much of it is squandered on bureaucracy and wasteful duplication.

Even at the height of the Celtic Tiger, the health system still felt like something out of the Third World. Galbraith's private opulence vs public squalor never seemed more apt.

Mind you, that a lot of Dublin looks like it was built in the 30s and never maintained. I liked the center, but a lot of the city was plainly depressing.
That being said, Ireland and Dublin are very nice and the pubs are decent.

And yes they seem to be infected by the "if it moves tax it" eurovirus as well.

I have to apologise for a bit of misdirection. I Googled a bit more detail, and my recollection was not too precise. New concessions (Special Assignee Relief Program) is not of broad applicability, applying only to income over EUR 75k, and you have to be assigned by your employer who you have been working for abroad....so of pretty limited applicability.

My statement that Ireland is a high tax jurisdiction was also not precise. More correctly, it is highly progressive, with many at the low end outside the tax net entirely, but high marginal rates kicking in quite quickly by international standards, and the top marginal rate above 50%.

Your calc seems ballpark; you may want to verify it by checking with one of the various online tax calculators. 

One thing to think about is health insurance. Public health system is certainly poor by Scandinavian standards, and much of the population consequently plumps for expensive private health insurance. Whether you do so depends on your circumstances and attitude to risk etc, but obviously if your potential employer covers this, then that is a not insignificant benefit. 

I have some experience, but not huge, so here's my two Guinnesses: chess scene is sleepy by European standards, but there are a couple of decent tourneys, and some great weekenders...check out recent Bunratty tournaments for example; great chance to play some very strong players.

Check out icu.ie for tourney schedules etc, and Google Leinster Chess League for league info, at least it will give you an idea of which clubs are worth contacting.

Taxes used to be low, but are now on the high side. However, there are some new concessions for incomin g workers to attract foreign talent; make sure any employer sets you up with one of these schemes. Good old days of paying little tax via remittance basis of taxation is over, though. 

Cost of living is high, although rents have come down, and there is decent choice, lots of stock on the market. Check out Daft.ie (ironic name for a property-devoted website in bubbleland); they have the market covered.

There's a real chance I may end up in Ireland this year as there seems to be plenty of multinational companies seeking people who knows English and a Nordic language, while good jobs are scarce in the south of Sweden... :/

And since I think we have some people from the green island here: How's the chess life in Dublin and in Ireland? Any good clubs, annual tournaments and general chess life like which teams usually win the series? (assuming you have one)


Anything else a relocating foreigner might need to know about, generally? I've heard that taxes are very low and when I visited Cork in 2005 iirc, eating out seemed to be a bit pricey while beer was slightly cheaper than here - but the Euro has dropped a bit since then...