Re: Inchicore with kids?
I was hoping to avoid private schools,
Do you have girls? If so maybe you should consider the Northside. 3 of the top 25 college-referring schools are in Dublin 9 and 5. And they are all non-fee-paying. (Manor House, Holy Faith Clontarf, Maryfield). The situation for boys is not so positive unfortunately.
my poor kid would feel like a right pauper when his/her mates live in more desirable areas and I would like them to go to school with children from their neighbourhood.
Ditto, although if your kids have good self-esteem this is unlikely to be an issue in my experience.
I guess it's a choice of middleclass area or no commute.
Hmm. I would consider almost every Dublin postal district to have a very sizeable middle-class population, if this is important to you.
Who wants to be surrounded by the middle class exclusively? Not me.
Honestly, I understand the concern about choosing a good school area to live, but I think many Dubliners are overly dismissive of the non fee-paying options open to them. And if there is a desire to send children to "middle class schools" (whatever that means) that leads to the ghettoisation of ordinary decent local schools.
Having made the choice to live in what 10 years ago a lot of people considered a "marginal" area, and further having chosen to send our kids to the local "borderline deprived" school, I have to say our kids have thrived and have a bit of experience of the whole spectrum of humanity as a result.
This, in my view, has to be a good thing.
I've nothing against Maynooth - but if the choice was Inchicore or Maynooth, I would live in Inchicore, especially if I worked in the city centre.