Work Ireland - IEP Australia - Irish Working Holidays for Australians

IEP's WORK IRELAND EXPLAINED

In depth insight, from the road!...

OK guys, no more excuses! Stop talking about it and get over there... call IEP today and we can help you every step of the way - visas, flights, insurance, jobs, accommodation, tax, bank accounts. See what we mean about no more excuses?!!

Lisa - IEP's newest recruit!

Thinking of heading to London but tempted to try something a bit different? Have a craic at Work Ireland!

IEP’s newest recruit, Lisa, raves about how awesome Dublin is and she should know, she’s just returned from spending a year living and working on the Emerald Isle and says it’s definitely worth a craic!

Lisa was considering a UK working holiday when it dawned on her that she had never met an Irishman she didn’t like and the idea of a country full of these friendly people with a wicked sense of humour intrigued her. She was also fond of the idea that Dublin was not as big as London and therefore slightly less daunting for her new overseas home.

So she packed her bags and made her way to Ireland.

At first glance Lisa was quite surprised at how small Dublin really was but fell in love with the people immediately

“You stop to ask one person directions and you end up chatting to them for an hour with them telling you what to do in Ireland. It’s fantastic”

Lisa found a decently priced apartment in central Dublin just south of the River Liffey which she shared with two other girls. Her flat was only a ten minute walk to Temple Bar and in easy reach of all the new friends she made in Dublin.

Lisa worked a couple of jobs in Ireland, her stand out position was working as a secretary at a children’s hospital but it was the lifestyle and the ease with which she could travel around Ireland that really made her year there extra special.

“My favourite place in Ireland would have to be Galway, or really anywhere on the West Coast, it’s just so beautiful. There are areas there that you can really experience ‘old Ireland’ with little pockets where people still speak Gaelic Irish.”

The close proximity to the rest of Europe definitely added to the whole experience, Lisa explained,

“There are so many flights to different destinations out of Dublin. I remember getting a return flight to London for €20 so it is just so cheap.”

As most people find, it is the friendships they create with locals and other travellers that make their experience so rich. In a country as laid back and friendly as Ireland, new friendships will be easy to come by and if Lisa’s advice is anything to go by, Work Ireland will offer you the trip of a life time!

Email Lisa your Work Ireland questions here!

Clare- worked in hospitality throughout Ireland

Having an absolute ball!!! We got transferred to work in another hotel in Cork (a big student city) and stay in the hotel rooms there and we get THE most gourmet meals ever!! Work is great, our managers start singing Waltzing Matilda, and refer to us as ‘The Matildas,’ until we told them that it actually wasn't our national anthem, much to their surprise...

So working in Cork and loving it! I can officially carry three plates at one time! AND my manager offered us a job there for the whole of next year!

While Adare was a beautiful little village, Cork was one big party. Still having trouble understanding the Irish accent, though...

Cherie- made the most of her stay in Dublin by working hospitality

Most days I started at lunch time, so spent the morning catching up with friends at cafes, or discovering a new corner of Dublin, an art gallery, or park, or castle. Then I would walk through the city, where there was always stuff going on, buskers, artists, markets, flower sellers it was always so European and exciting!

Then I would work the lunch rush and waitress on til the evening. I worked with a really fun, international crowd of people, from all over Europe. And then after work we would often go out to a live gig at one of the many pubs and bars in Dublin.

I lived right in the centre of Dublin in a new apartment building, and worked at a cool café/restaurant in the city.

I learnt to be completely independent, and gained a lot of confidence from this. I worked through bouts of homesickness, and I learnt to look at problems as challenges to learn from!

One of my favourite places in Ireland was Galway which is a really cool, funky, young city on the west coast of Ireland, Iwould definitely recommend living and working in Galway.

One of the highlights was a trip up to the coast of Northern Ireland, visiting tiny little villages, and old castles, and the Giant's Causeway.

I moved to Dublin because I wanted to do something a bit different to the typical London working holiday - I thought it was smaller and friendlier than the UK, or London in particular, so I thought it would be a nicer way to start my trip!

The people I met there were really cool and we all had so much fun. It was awesome living in such an international city, and meeting so many different Europeans. I loved all the live music and living right in the city, always going out. Good craic! (Good times)

Deirdre- loved Ireland so much she stayed more than 12 months!

As soon as I'd touched down in Dublin I knew I’d made the right decision. It felt right from the very beginning.

I ended up living in Ireland twice, both in Dublin. I worked in a hotel the first time but it was the job that I got upon returning to Dublin for the second time that I loved. I worked in a very funky 3 level café/restaurant right in the heart of Dublin. The place was always busy and had an incredible buzz about it. The staff became best friends and in many ways we were a surrogate family for each other. To this day we are still in touch and I have visited three of them in the Czech Republic, Croatia and New York. I ended up managing the restaurant on some days and enjoyed the extra responsibility.

I lived right in the city in an apartment right in the centre of Dublin. That meant I was in walking distance to work, shopping and the nightlife.

I had the fortune of working in an environment that was energetic, fun and full of surprises! I’d arrive at work, get changed and catch up with the staff. I’d do anything from making coffees to serving food, to managing the staff to doing the accounting! The whole time I’d be having a laugh with my work mates and giving comical comebacks to my boss’s many insults to me about my kiwi accent! More often than not I would head out after work for a drink with friends or to catch a gig somewhere. In Dublin, there is NO excuse for sitting at home and being bored. There’s always something on. The city is buzzing 7 days a week!

I was away from home for just over three years, and half of that time was spent in Ireland. Now that's saying something!

A highlight for me was Galway. This is the university town of Ireland. It’s hip, loads of fun and has loads of great bars. It’s a place I definitely would have loved to live in if I’d had more time. Apart from holding great festivals in the summer (like the Arts festival), it is also a place steeped in history and ruins! This is what I loved about Ireland. There are ruins a plenty. Spectacular castles are in abundance and every time I visited one I always cast my mind back to what it must have been like to live in the time when the castles were built. Because Ireland has had such a colourful history, all these visual representations help you to get a ‘feeling’ and idea of what it was like to live in those historic times.

Glendalough in County Wicklow was a highlight. It’s been around since the 6th century and many of the ruins still remain after numerous attacks on the settlement. One thing that still stands is a huge tower that the monks used to hide in during invasions. One of the places I adored is a place called New Grange just out of Dublin in County Meath. This place is fascinating! The Neolithic tombs were built with an incredible amount of scientific and astronomical accuracy for their time. It’s now a UNESCO Heritage Site. Once you’ve visited it, you’ll find it hard to comprehend how people in 3200 BC could build such structures and have such knowledge! I’ll never forget this place…

I got to immerse myself in Ireland’s rich history and see the visual and cultural representations of that history. I loved meeting the locals and going to real Irish bars. The great thing is that the more into the country/smaller towns in Ireland you venture to, the thicker and harder the accent becomes to understand!

There was something about Dublin that I couldn't pull myself away from. Dublin is a true cosmopolitan city. Apart from its diversity, Dublin is a city that is just always buzzing. I actually found Sunday nights to be one of the busiest! In Dublin, you will never be short of a good bar to go to, club to dance at, or live music to watch. In fact I have Dublin to thank for exposing me to some of the greatest music and musicians I've ever seen!