Living aboard - Republic of Ireland for UK passport holders

[Marceline]

Hi - I've asked various similar questions on YBW Forums over the years about locations outside the UK for UK passport holders (just as we're still trying to figure out plans for the next few years when getting to my 60s), and have been thinking again of maybe basing ourselves in Republic Of Ireland (many reasons), but one big one is that UK and ROI share the Common Travel Area and not have to worry about visas/having to be heading back to UK before end of 90days like in Schengen/EU areas), but also that hopefully with us being based on a boat we wouldn't be contributing to the growing headaches of high/growing costs of accomodation/homes there. Also Ireland is stunning and we'd love to spend some years there.

We know it'd be as cold and wet (if not colder and wetter) than where are in our current home of North Wales, and one idea we would likely do is for the Dec/Jan/Feb months to go and stay with parents for the winter. And we'd love to explore the many islands on the West Coast in Summer and sail more East coast for Spring/Autumn

So my main questions are

a) if we want to stay in one area for a while, are living in marinas as tricky as the UK, or is it somewhat more relaxed/possible ?
b) if so, are there rules for taxes/rates (very happy to pay them if so etc) ?
c) how feasable is it for cruising inland waterways in a sailboat? The boat(s) we have in mind are

Westerly Pentland (beam 2.9m / draft 1.1m
Westerly 33 bilge keel (beam 3.4m / draft 1.32m)
maybe even a Conway ( beam3.4m / draft 1.4m) if our budget stretches that far (sadly we have quite a small budget)

we're also thinking of a Seadog 30 though - which is a little smaller but does have tabernacle masts for its ketch rig which may help for getting them down if going on the narrow canals

We'd likely also still be heading back and forth to UK and hopefully many other EU countries/maybe ever further, but we'd love to spend some years in ROI if it's not too tricky for UK passport holders

are there any other things we'd need to consider if based there ?

 

[LittleSister]

I'm no expert, and can't answer all of your questions, but based on living there as a UK citizen for several years a few decades back, I'd say -

Milder and probably not as wet as N Wales.
If you live there you'll need to pay taxes there, and I think you'll need to register to get a social security no. for that and accessing some services.
I believe you could get well inland on the Shannon in your boat.

Re live aboard in marinas, I don't know, but expect you will face many of the same problems and situations as here, and I have the impression they tend (away from the big cities) to be fewer, much smaller and limited in facilities and perhaps shelter. More importantly is the culture - generally more informal, very much depends on who you know and how you are regarded by them and more generally locally, rules are considered 'there to be broken'.

Shortly after I arrived there I was asked (by a New Zealander I'd vaguely known in UK, and who'd lived there for some years) 'Has the culture shock hit you yet?'. I thought "What is she on about?'. Same language (sort of!), much the same things in shops, much of TV was the same programmes, etc. But over time it crept up on me, and I found it somewhat alienating and frustrating. It's the same as here, but also actually not!

 

[Tranona]

While you have no problems living in the Republic, your boat will. If you become resident in the Republic you will have to import the boat paying VAT and possibly needed to meet the RCD (which it won't!). If you keep your residence outside the EU (in say the UK0 then your boat can stay in the EU for 18 months at a time, renewable by leaving the EU and re-entering.

 

[ylop]

Do you want to live aboard in a marina in ROI or do you want to long term cruise in ROI basing yourself in one place for weeks or a few months at a time? I don’t think they are quite the same thing and even in the UK the latter will generally be welcome.

 

[Trident]

In reality there is absolutely no checks on entering or leaving and no one wants you to pay taxes there or anything else ...

We have a house there that is technically our permanent residence but we are UK citizens and pay only UK taxes - plus the €80 a year council tax on the house. Because we drive to the UK lots (its 7 miles over the border ) we manage to happily keep UK car tax and insurance and no one cares. (Legally if we stayed 182 days we should re-register the car but no one does and no one cares as long as you do occasionally cross the border)

I have found no culture shock except how friendly everyone is (this is West Coast so not Dub which may be different) - we rented to start and on arrival late at night off the ferry the house had a fire going and the landlord had stocked the fridge for us as he knew we'd be in late. We were advised to go to the local post office to introduce ourselves and when we moved to the house we bought popped in again - to be told "ah don't worry , Sian at the stage agents told us you'd be moving this week so Dave (the actual post man for the area) knows to take everything there."

I can't answer as to live aboard in marinas but culturally the Irish still hate "homelessness" after the British threw so many out of their homes in the past - as in they will do anything to help someone . One house we REALLY wanted to buy in the most perfect location imaginable was on the market through an agent and we happened to be passing so stopped to look. The owner was outside and asked if we needed help so we got talking. Long story short his business had failed and his bank took a lien on the house but were then bought out by a vulture capital company who insisted the house be sold but he and his family of course did not want to move. He asked us to consider not making an offer which we said of course we wouldn't . In the pub a day or two later in the same village we were asking around about anything that may be available and were asked a few questions and when they ascertained we were the couple who promised not to buy the house .. lets just say we didn't have to buy another drink all night and and half the bar called up cousins and aunts to see if "the old empty cottage" etc might be for sale to this nice couple . Talk to the marinas and I'm sure they will do all they can to help you

 

[Marceline]

While you have no problems living in the Republic, your boat will. If you become resident in the Republic you will have to import the boat paying VAT and possibly needed to meet the RCD (which it won't!). If you keep your residence outside the EU (in say the UK0 then your boat can stay in the EU for 18 months at a time, renewable by leaving the EU and re-entering.

Ah heck and many thanks Tranona - I always forget the extra complications of the VAT and RCD - wow ok that's food for thought. I'm wondering if we really want to be based more in the ROI but occasionally visit the UK maybe buying a boat in ROI/EU is worth thinking about.

Alternatively we might also have our home address as my parents in the UK which I guess helps if we do keep our UK residency/buy a UK boat.

Lots of food for thought there and thank you for pointing those out (know you've done so many times on various of my past similar questions )

 

[Marceline]

I'm no expert, and can't answer all of your questions, but based on living there as a UK citizen for several years a few decades back, I'd say -

Milder and probably not as wet as N Wales.
If you live there you'll need to pay taxes there, and I think you'll need to register to get a social security no. for that and accessing some services.
I believe you could get well inland on the Shannon in your boat.

Re live aboard in marinas, I don't know, but expect you will face many of the same problems and situations as here, and I have the impression they tend (away from the big cities) to be fewer, much smaller and limited in facilities and perhaps shelter. More importantly is the culture - generally more informal, very much depends on who you know and how you are regarded by them and more generally locally, rules are considered 'there to be broken'.

Shortly after I arrived there I was asked (by a New Zealander I'd vaguely known in UK, and who'd lived there for some years) 'Has the culture shock hit you yet?'. I thought "What is she on about?'. Same language (sort of!), much the same things in shops, much of TV was the same programmes, etc. But over time it crept up on me, and I found it somewhat alienating and frustrating. It's the same as here, but also actually not!

Many thanks LittleSister and that's very helpful to know, especially if we do base ourselves over there - guessing we'd need to sort GP/Health insurance and many others, and paying tax there makes sense if we do relocate. I'm lucky I have a 'work from home' job which does give me the chance to work overseas, but I'll check with my work the various tax implications and plan around those.

Maybe we try there for less than 6months initialy, and if we manage/enjoy it look to shift our residency there

One thing I guess is even if we are based in one area, we're very much hoping to travel around to other areas/regions so I guess we're not looking to find a marina to be based there for year+, likely more a few months or maybe even less (its still early days for us figuring this out), but this is all very good to know especially if say we did find an area we wanted to based in for long time (eg: Galway)

But many thanks for sharing and very useful to know thanks

 

[Marceline]

Do you want to live aboard in a marina in ROI or do you want to long term cruise in ROI basing yourself in one place for weeks or a few months at a time? I don’t think they are quite the same thing and even in the UK the latter will generally be welcome.

tbh if we did manage to find a place where we really felt we could set down some mid-term routes (a few years) I guess we may try and find a place where (hopefully) they allow some kind of 'liveaboard' but while cruising to other paces - so we'd be there under 6 months and most of the year sailing/other places

But as others have mentioned there's not as many marinas (and tbh we'd prefer living on the hook for a good chunk of time) so we'd also look to maybe just be in places for a few weeks or month or two.

(sorry if this is vague as there's plenty were still trying to work ok etc). But I think even if we found a place we could 'liveaboard '24/7/365' we likely wouldn't be there for many months of the year

 

[Marceline]

In reality there is absolutely no checks on entering or leaving and no one wants you to pay taxes there or anything else ...

We have a house there that is technically our permanent residence but we are UK citizens and pay only UK taxes - plus the €80 a year council tax on the house. Because we drive to the UK lots (its 7 miles over the border ) we manage to happily keep UK car tax and insurance and no one cares. (Legally if we stayed 182 days we should re-register the car but no one does and no one cares as long as you do occasionally cross the border)

I have found no culture shock except how friendly everyone is (this is West Coast so not Dub which may be different) - we rented to start and on arrival late at night off the ferry the house had a fire going and the landlord had stocked the fridge for us as he knew we'd be in late. We were advised to go to the local post office to introduce ourselves and when we moved to the house we bought popped in again - to be told "ah don't worry , Sian at the stage agents told us you'd be moving this week so Dave (the actual post man for the area) knows to take everything there."

I can't answer as to live aboard in marinas but culturally the Irish still hate "homelessness" after the British threw so many out of their homes in the past - as in they will do anything to help someone . One house we REALLY wanted to buy in the most perfect location imaginable was on the market through an agent and we happened to be passing so stopped to look. The owner was outside and asked if we needed help so we got talking. Long story short his business had failed and his bank took a lien on the house but were then bought out by a vulture capital company who insisted the house be sold but he and his family of course did not want to move. He asked us to consider not making an offer which we said of course we wouldn't . In the pub a day or two later in the same village we were asking around about anything that may be available and were asked a few questions and when they ascertained we were the couple who promised not to buy the house .. lets just say we didn't have to buy another drink all night and and half the bar called up cousins and aunts to see if "the old empty cottage" etc might be for sale to this nice couple . Talk to the marinas and I'm sure they will do all they can to help you

Wow and many thanks for sharing Trident (and glad you managed to have help for your cottage and to help the guy who's business had sadly hit hard times), and thanks so much too for explaining how it's possible to be resident there but still manage to keep a uk car (that's another thing we'll have to work out, though tbh I'll likely keep ours in UK at my parents for those times I'm visiting there)

That does sound lovely too though how welcoming the village was and your landlord for when you moved over. And thank you for sharing and your advise and especially "Talk to the marinas and I'm sure they will do all they can to help you"

Cheers so much to you and everyone for your helpful replies. Lots to think about and do some more research etc

 

[Marceline]

I believe you could get well inland on the Shannon in your boat.

Many thanks - this looks lovely and will look into this more

https://www.waterwaysireland.org/our-waterways/shannon-navigation/boater-info

 

[LittleSister]

. . . - guessing we'd need to sort GP/Health insurance and many others . . .

Getting a GP should be no problem. You have to pay to visit the GP (there is a system to cover the cost for the very poor). I think it was about €25 when I was there. This does have the advantage that it seems to deter a lot of visits, meaning you can usually get an appointment at the drop of a hat, very much unlike in England these days.

I think (but not certain) you would be covered by the state health provision for other health needs, and may not need health insurance, but do check.

Very shortly after I arrived in Ireland, living alone in a tiny rural hamlet 13 miles from the city and my job, not really knowing a soul in the country, I hadn't yet sorted out anything much and certainly not health insurance, when I woke one morning and couldn't see properly (this was just one eye - i'm blind in the other since birth). I looked up and found a number for a GP in the next village. He answered the phone himself and said if I came straight away, before his surgery opened, he could see me. i drove straight there, he answered the door himself, checked me out and said I had an eye infection, gave me a prescription for meds, and said if it wasn't cleared up within 2 days (or was it 3?) to go straight to hospital. I pointed out that would be on a Sunday, and he said never mind that, go straight to hospital and don't delay it until the Monday

It was a 26 mile round trip to the pharmacy to get the prescription dispensed, and I found I was really struggling to drive - my sight was deteriorating by the hour, I couldn't see at all clearly, and had to almost close my eyelids as the bright daylight was really painful. I felt I had no choice, though.

I took the meds, but on the Sunday it hadn't cleared up, but was even worse, so I went to look in the telephone directory for a taxi to take me to hospital (there was no way i could drive at this point). No amount of squinting, though, nor a magnifying glass, would allow me to read the text. So i walked to the nearby pub (not yet open), and the landlord's girlfriend kindly found me a taxi from a nearby village to take me the 13 miles to hospital. About this time I realised I didn't know if I would have to pay for hospital treatment, nor how I could afford it if I did, but had no alternative.

I kept my eyes closed for most of the taxi journey because of the pain of the daylight. The taxi dropped me off at the hospital entrance and I somehow found the eye department and was seen pretty much straight away. They confirmed it was an infection, but needed to establish which of two possible infections it was so that they could prescribe the right medicine. They also said the infection was serious and might have caused permanent damage to my eye. It didn't take them very long to establish which infection they thought it was. They provided me with a course of medication and sent me on my way, and to my relief neither asked for payment nor mentioned that I'd be sent a bill.

I wandered outside, and expected to find a taxi stand area (and hoped they wouldn't balk at going out into the sticks), but couldn't find one. My vision now, though, was extremely blurry, and I also had to squint to limit the pain from the daylight - it was quite challenging and disorienting even just to walk about. I'd failed to get the number of the taxi that brought me there. I wandered hesitantly out into the surrounding streets (crossing them by now a real challenge) where I hoped to be able to find a passing taxi, but i couldn't. I got very dejected.

It suddenly dawned on me that if my vision was permanently damaged and didn't recover sufficiently, I wouldn't be able to drive and therefore live in the house I'd just signed up to rent for 6 months or a year. Then it dawned on me even if I could somehow move to town (more expensive), if I couldn't read I couldn't even do my job, nor most others. I'd borrowed money to pay for the move to Ireland and would be completely stuffed on every front. I walked back to the hospital, thinking I'd have to ask someone in the hospital to find or direct me to a taxi, but fortunately happened across one dropping someone off in the hospital grounds.

It was a very troubling time, but fortunately my eyesight did then recover quite quickly, I didn't have any noticeable permanent eye damage, and before too long was driving and working again. I never received any bill for my hospital treatment.

To go back to the GP situation, it was generally good in my experience as mentioned, but later in my Ireland sojourn I needed ongoing medication, and the GP insisted I visit him every four weeks, requiring time off work and a €25 payment, so that he could 'monitor' the situation (this was a common medication that many people take for years). He was very close to retirement, I knew, and I couldn't help wondering whether my attendance was more related to his retirement fund than my medical needs!

 

[LittleSister]

. . .
I have found no culture shock except how friendly everyone is (this is West Coast so not Dub which may be different) - we rented to start and on arrival late at night off the ferry the house had a fire going and the landlord had stocked the fridge for us as he knew we'd be in late. We were advised to go to the local post office to introduce ourselves and when we moved to the house we bought popped in again - to be told "ah don't worry , Sian at the stage agents told us you'd be moving this week so Dave (the actual post man for the area) knows to take everything there."
. . .

It can cut both ways, though. As i said, it depends very much who you know, and how you are regarded by local people (or particular groups of them).

You can find you are on the wrong side of a whole group of people, whether it is justified or not. This can happen just by falling out with one person who happens to be important in the local community, or just a dominant family within it. Someone coming in with the money to buy a house in the locality can be seen as welcome input into the local ecomomy (or at least a local family's coffers), or an unwelcome outsider robbing some local of a home (even if they couldn't afford it)..

I never had anything but the most minor trouble, but have heard horror stories. One that springs to mind is of a woman buying a house in a remote West Coast area from a local family, and instead of the rural idyll she'd envisaged, she was horribly harassed and hounded by that very family until she sold the house (back to them?) at a significant loss and left.

Generally, i found, people have a down on 'the British' as a notional entity and historical coloniser, but this somehow doesn't translate to individual Brits, to whom they are generally very friendly. (It's a bonus if you can identify some ancestor who was Irish.)

It would likely be a whole different ball game if you are black, or some other ethnic minority (perhaps less so in Dublin, it being significantly more cosmopolitan?). There is widespread animosity towards 'immigrants' in general (from which Brits (at least the white ones) are mysteriously generally excluded. I found this curious and unsettling, given how virtually every Irish family will have past or current members who emigrated, and hence were immigrants elsewhere.

Note that Ireland can sometimes be very bureaucratic, but hurdles can often be overcome through personal contacts. I got stuck early on with some official form I needed - to get Form A you needed Form B, but to get Form B you needed to have Form A, or some such - but someone at work had a sister or some other relative who worked in the relevant issuing department, and so the logjam was mysteriously quickly solved and I was then promptly issued both forms without having submitted anything new. Another time I was on the phone to some official department, getting nowhere, but when I gave my address the person on the other end said 'Oh, do you know X?', I said 'Yes, they're my landlord/neighbour' (or whatever it was), and suddenly the way to resolution opened up.

If you import a car from the UK, there is a hefty duty to pay. I also had to pay to have my car inspected to make sure it complied with Irish requirements, even though it was manufactured, first sold, and always subsequently registered in the EU, as was obvious from the UK registration document.

Corruption is far more widespread, or at least more blatant and less cause for embarrassment, than in the UK. Though that was starting to change when I was there, with long established 'scandals' hitting the national press.

 

[Tranona]

Ah heck and many thanks Tranona - I always forget the extra complications of the VAT and RCD - wow ok that's food for thought. I'm wondering if we really want to be based more in the ROI but occasionally visit the UK maybe buying a boat in ROI/EU is worth thinking about.

Alternatively we might also have our home address as my parents in the UK which I guess helps if we do keep our UK residency/buy a UK boat.

Lots of food for thought there and thank you for pointing those out (know you've done so many times on various of my past similar questions )

If you buy an EU VAT status boat you cannot bring it into the UK unless you become non UK resident> If you are non UK resident you cannot register on the SSR so if you want UK registration it will have to be on Part 1. Having an EU boat means that the boat can move freely around the EU, but you will still be subject to Schengen rules. It is almost as easy to move a UK boat around the EU under the TA rules so really little benefit in doing that. in practical terms you will find it very difficult to buy the sort of boat you are looking at outside the UK. You don't say if you are going to give up your UK home and the boat will become your home, but this has become problematic for most UK citizens unless you go well away from the EU.

BTW it is easy to think that the "rules" are not enforced in the easy relations with the ROI - until they are and then you can feel a lot of pain. However if you maintain a base in the UK and spend say 6 months of the year living on board and cruising around ROI it could work.

 

[st599]

I'm lucky I have a 'work from home' job which does give me the chance to work overseas, but I'll check with my work the various tax implications and plan around those.

I have a similar job, but you may find that if you work abroad for an extended period, your employer becomes liable for local tax payments. If I'm sent somewhere the company pays, if I choose to work somewhere, I have to organise.

 

[seanav]

Hi - I've asked various similar questions on YBW Forums over the years about locations outside the UK for UK passport holders (just as we're still trying to figure out plans for the next few years when getting to my 60s), and have been thinking again of maybe basing ourselves in Republic Of Ireland (many reasons), but one big one is that UK and ROI share the Common Travel Area and not have to worry about visas/having to be heading back to UK before end of 90days like in Schengen/EU areas), but also that hopefully with us being based on a boat we wouldn't be contributing to the growing headaches of high/growing costs of accomodation/homes there. Also Ireland is stunning and we'd love to spend some years there.

We know it'd be as cold and wet (if not colder and wetter) than where are in our current home of North Wales, and one idea we would likely do is for the Dec/Jan/Feb months to go and stay with parents for the winter. And we'd love to explore the many islands on the West Coast in Summer and sail more East coast for Spring/Autumn

So my main questions are

a) if we want to stay in one area for a while, are living in marinas as tricky as the UK, or is it somewhat more relaxed/possible ?
b) if so, are there rules for taxes/rates (very happy to pay them if so etc) ?
c) how feasable is it for cruising inland waterways in a sailboat? The boat(s) we have in mind are

Westerly Pentland (beam 2.9m / draft 1.1m
Westerly 33 bilge keel (beam 3.4m / draft 1.32m)
maybe even a Conway ( beam3.4m / draft 1.4m) if our budget stretches that far (sadly we have quite a small budget)

we're also thinking of a Seadog 30 though - which is a little smaller but does have tabernacle masts for its ketch rig which may help for getting them down if going on the narrow canals

We'd likely also still be heading back and forth to UK and hopefully many other EU countries/maybe ever further, but we'd love to spend some years in ROI if it's not too tricky for UK passport holders

are there any other things we'd need to consider if based there ?

Hi

I can only talk about Dublin Marinas , and most frown upon liveaboards as far as I know.I think Greystones might accept them but other than a week or 2 holiday etc most of the rest aren't keen on long term live aboards as far as I know. Malahide used to I think but not anymore

If anyone says any different, they may well be right but thats my understanding

 

[roblpm]

If you buy an EU VAT status boat you cannot bring it into the UK unless you become non UK resident> If you are non UK resident you cannot register on the SSR so if you want UK registration it will have to be on Part 1. Having an EU boat means that the boat can move freely around the EU, but you will still be subject to Schengen rules. It is almost as easy to move a UK boat around the EU under the TA rules so really little benefit in doing that. in practical terms you will find it very difficult to buy the sort of boat you are looking at outside the UK. You don't say if you are going to give up your UK home and the boat will become your home, but this has become problematic for most UK citizens unless you go well away from the EU.

BTW it is easy to think that the "rules" are not enforced in the easy relations with the ROI - until they are and then you can feel a lot of pain. However if you maintain a base in the UK and spend say 6 months of the year living on board and cruising around ROI it could work.

Just a note to add to this is that it’s important to note what “resident” means for vat. It’s not the same as tax resident. Tax residence is now easy to determine due to the Statutory Residence Test. “Residence” in the context of showing up in the UK with an EU vat paid boat is a bit more wooly….

• Relief is available if the transport is owned by a person established outside the UK, or registered outside the UK in the name of someone established outside the UK.

So get ready to prove you actually “normally” live somewhere else. Phrases like “habitually resident” are what they use in HMRC guidance.

I now live in more than one place so questions like this vex me!!

 

[Tranona]

Just a note to add to this is that it’s important to note what “resident” means for vat. It’s not the same as tax resident. Tax residence is now easy to determine due to the Statutory Residence Test. “Residence” in the context of showing up in the UK with an EU vat paid boat is a bit more wooly….

• Relief is available if the transport is owned by a person established outside the UK, or registered outside the UK in the name of someone established outside the UK.

So get ready to prove you actually “normally” live somewhere else. Phrases like “habitually resident” are what they use in HMRC guidance.

I now live in more than one place so questions like this vex me!!

The original question was about TA into the EU where although principles are the same, it is left to individual states to manage so actual practice may vary.
In the UK it is more prescriptive as there is only one source of rules www.gov.uk/guidance/sailing-a-pleasure-craft-into-the-uk-temporarily-for-private-use
Note that the boat must be owned by a non UK person AND registered outside the UK

 

[Lucky Duck]

Getting a GP should be no problem. You have to pay to visit the GP (there is a system to cover the cost for the very poor). I think it was about €25 when I was there. This does have the advantage that it seems to deter a lot of visits, meaning you can usually get an appointment at the drop of a hat, very much unlike in England these days.

I think (but not certain) you would be covered by the state health provision for other health needs, and may not need health insurance, but do check.

Very shortly after I arrived in Ireland, living alone in a tiny rural hamlet 13 miles from the city and my job, not really knowing a soul in the country, I hadn't yet sorted out anything much and certainly not health insurance, when I woke one morning and couldn't see properly (this was just one eye - i'm blind in the other since birth). I looked up and found a number for a GP in the next village. He answered the phone himself and said if I came straight away, before his surgery opened, he could see me. i drove straight there, he answered the door himself, checked me out and said I had an eye infection, gave me a prescription for meds, and said if it wasn't cleared up within 2 days (or was it 3?) to go straight to hospital. I pointed out that would be on a Sunday, and he said never mind that, go straight to hospital and don't delay it until the Monday

It was a 26 mile round trip to the pharmacy to get the prescription dispensed, and I found I was really struggling to drive - my sight was deteriorating by the hour, I couldn't see at all clearly, and had to almost close my eyelids as the bright daylight was really painful. I felt I had no choice, though.

I took the meds, but on the Sunday it hadn't cleared up, but was even worse, so I went to look in the telephone directory for a taxi to take me to hospital (there was no way i could drive at this point). No amount of squinting, though, nor a magnifying glass, would allow me to read the text. So i walked to the nearby pub (not yet open), and the landlord's girlfriend kindly found me a taxi from a nearby village to take me the 13 miles to hospital. About this time I realised I didn't know if I would have to pay for hospital treatment, nor how I could afford it if I did, but had no alternative.

I kept my eyes closed for most of the taxi journey because of the pain of the daylight. The taxi dropped me off at the hospital entrance and I somehow found the eye department and was seen pretty much straight away. They confirmed it was an infection, but needed to establish which of two possible infections it was so that they could prescribe the right medicine. They also said the infection was serious and might have caused permanent damage to my eye. It didn't take them very long to establish which infection they thought it was. They provided me with a course of medication and sent me on my way, and to my relief neither asked for payment nor mentioned that I'd be sent a bill.

I wandered outside, and expected to find a taxi stand area (and hoped they wouldn't balk at going out into the sticks), but couldn't find one. My vision now, though, was extremely blurry, and I also had to squint to limit the pain from the daylight - it was quite challenging and disorienting even just to walk about. I'd failed to get the number of the taxi that brought me there. I wandered hesitantly out into the surrounding streets (crossing them by now a real challenge) where I hoped to be able to find a passing taxi, but i couldn't. I got very dejected.

It suddenly dawned on me that if my vision was permanently damaged and didn't recover sufficiently, I wouldn't be able to drive and therefore live in the house I'd just signed up to rent for 6 months or a year. Then it dawned on me even if I could somehow move to town (more expensive), if I couldn't read I couldn't even do my job, nor most others. I'd borrowed money to pay for the move to Ireland and would be completely stuffed on every front. I walked back to the hospital, thinking I'd have to ask someone in the hospital to find or direct me to a taxi, but fortunately happened across one dropping someone off in the hospital grounds.

It was a very troubling time, but fortunately my eyesight did then recover quite quickly, I didn't have any noticeable permanent eye damage, and before too long was driving and working again. I never received any bill for my hospital treatment.

To go back to the GP situation, it was generally good in my experience as mentioned, but later in my Ireland sojourn I needed ongoing medication, and the GP insisted I visit him every four weeks, requiring time off work and a €25 payment, so that he could 'monitor' the situation (this was a common medication that many people take for years). He was very close to retirement, I knew, and I couldn't help wondering whether my attendance was more related to his retirement fund than my medical needs!

Are you Dominic Cummings?

 

[Marceline]

thanks so much again for all your replies (and sorry I've not been on here for a while) - but again they're really helpful and food for thought for how/if we do try and rebase ourselves in ROI. We've still a while yet (still to settle on which larger boat we may go for) but again, all really helpful, especially how important it is to where we buy a boat/where our legal residence is

Many thanks