I wouldn't dismiss Dublin too quickly.

I think people have stopped using daft because the number of responses has gone too crazy and things like word of mouth, Facebook groups and estate agents are taking over.

The schools thing is somewhat scaremongering too. Everyone ends up with a school place sonewhere, just pick a target area or three and read the local schools enrollment policies and call them. Some areas have huge pressure but it's not every area by any means.

We moved home to Ireland in August 2014, and I left here in 1988. I have two teenage kids and the schools here in Dublin are fine. I can’t see any reason to avoid them at all. Private schools here are about a third of the cost of the UK and the state schools here are far better than those in the U.K. We wouldn’t have been able to apply for places for our kids in state schools here before we came as we didn’t have an Irish address, but we were offered places for them at every private Dublin school we enquired at.

My husband is from the U.K. if you want to ask me anything at all, do. Health provision here is very expensive and it mounts up quickly. It’s nothing like the UK at all, not at primary care level either - the cost of a GP and prescription is shocking having come from the U.K. where it is free for the GP and prescriptions less than £10.

Housing (rental or purchasing) is cheaper here too, than London. A lot cheaper, but groceries and utilities are more expensive. We had no problems getting car insurance here either, but we both had 30 years of no claims behind us.

We have had a couple of lodgers since we arrived in Dublin, people coming from far afield who have applied for school places for their kids in Dublin at state schools before their kids arrived, they had no problems at all with primary or secondary schools.

Perhaps Dublin is more expensive than uk locations that are not London? Or perhaps it is more expensive than places like the Middle East. If you are London based and Irish returning home and have kids, Dublin is not as expensive at all as London.

Thanks Bea, and everyone else. I appreciate your comments. I have a friend in the UK who is moving his family back to Ireland, mainly for the schools, so I really understand that motivation.
We are taking a family holiday back in the summer, and will be talking to a lot of friends about things, and will try to get a pragmatic view.
Car insurance is a big one, we have been in the ME nearly 10 years, multiple countries. To be frank I would understand Irish insurers reluctance to look at paperwork from here, when the Gulf countries themselves have a big problem when it comes to official documents and authentication.
Worst case is we have to plan on being a two car family - so that seems to add up to an awful lot of after tax earnings to spend, over multiple years, to try earn no-claims consideration in Ireland. Its not the type of problem we ever thought to encounter...

We moved back in 2010 and also faced the car insurance issue. We paid north of €2k the first year for one car and then it dropped in steps over the next five years as we accumulated a no claims bonus. It probably cost us €4kish in total over that period than it would have if we had a full no claims bonus starting out, so it's something to be aware of but it's not going to be a make or break issue in deciding whether to move or not. It probably helped that we were moving from a country with even higher insurance costs, and where we had needed two cars, so even at €2k+ our insurance costs were actually lower in Ireland.

You what?!
Singapore? Iraq? Mars?

Russia

Russian dash cam footage on youtube gives a good idea why.

I was incredibly lucky with regards to this.
Bought my first car in London, where I did all of 300 miles a year.

So my very first car insurance bill was only stg£500.
This was at a time when all my friends in Ireland were paying €1,200 - €1,500.

When I moved back to Ireland, the insurance company recognised my UK no-claims bonus and I was charged €400.