Accommodation prices have skyrocketed in Ireland since the start of the economic boom.  Dublin is the most expensive place to live.  Properties are cheaper in the other cities, and the best deals are to be had in or near the smaller towns.  We've included some links which will give you an overview of the prices you might expect for buying or renting properties.

http://www.myhome.ie and www.ezhome.ie have excellent information about buying or renting a home in Ireland.  Other sites are:
http://www.daft.ie/
http://www.letbynet.com/
http://www.propertyfile.net/
http://www.ipnlettings.com
http://www.reservationsnetwork.ie/
http://www.property.ie/
http://www.property-in-ireland.com/
http://www.DublinPropertyLettings.com/

The Galway Advertiser

Our useful addresses and links page contains links to relocation agents who may also be able to help out with accommodation.

If you're going to rent a property or a room in it (sharing with others), you might need some or all of the following:

1. A letter from the bank/your employer/previous landlord
2. A security deposit (which will be refunded at the end)
3. One month's rent in advance.

Where to go

As an IT jobseeker; where might you expect to be working and/or living?  In the past, most IT jobs were concentrated in Dublin.  This is still partly true.  Nowadays, however, it is much easier to get a job outside of Dublin; on the west coast in Galway, Ennis, Shannon or Limerick, or in the south in Cork City.

Map of Ireland

Dublin

Most of the jobs are concentrated in Dublin either in the city itself, or in one of the several large business and technology parks around Dublin.
Microsoft and Dell employ large numbers in south Dublin along with several other large multinational companies.

City West and Park West are two of the largest business parks situated to the west of Dublin

Dublin is the most expensive part of the country to live in at the moment as you will see from our accommodation links above; it is however an extremely vibrant city and one of the top three most popular weekend destinations in Europe.

Maps of Dublin city centre and Dublin county.

Guide to Dublin

Galway is a small seaside fishing and tourism city on the west coast.  If you enjoy beautiful scenery and access to wild remote countryside, it's the place for you.  Galway is an hour from Connemara which boasts the Twelve Pins mountains and pristine beaches.  To the south, in County Clare you can explore The Burren, a unique limestone plateau famous for its megalithic tombs and unique flora.

Compaq and Siebel are two large employers in the Ballybrit Business Park in Galway.

Renting: Published every Thursday (online on Wednesday), The Galway Advertiser is the best place to check for rented accommodation.

Clare

Clare is the county directly to the south of Galway.  Ennis in County Clare is a thriving town of X thousand which is currently Ireland's Information Age Town.  In 1997,  Ennis beat off stiff competition from other Irish towns to win £15m sponsorship from Eircom to "create an 'urban test bed' for the implementation and successful integration of existing and new information technologies."  The program is set to run for five years.  Ennis hopes to lever its status as the Information Age Town to attract more hi tech companies and a number of business parks are being built to facilitate this.

The Shannon Free Zone is roughly half way between Ennis and Limerick City, and is home to several large international companies including DeBeers and Tellabs.  Many people who work in Shannon live in Ennis, Co. Clare which is about a 20 min drive away.

http://www.county-clare.com/ will give you a taste of County Clare and The Clare Champion.

Limerick is the county directly south of Clare.  Limerick City is the commercial centre of the county and a host of companies including Esat, Flextronics, Piercom, Parthus Technologies, MCI Worldcom Ireland and Dell Computer EMF are based in Limerick's National Technological Park.

Keep your finger on the pulse of Limerick with the Limerick Leader.  Other Limerick websites are http://www.limerick.com/ and http://www.limerickpost.ie/.

http://www.cork-guide.ie


http://www.county-cork.com/

Kerry Technology Park

Tralee

The Kerryman Newspaper