Moving from England

[Johnny Boy]

I want to find out some info for a woman who is hoping to move from England back home to Ireland this summer with her two kids aged 11 and 9. One of the kids has special needs. She owns a house in England and would like to buy a house in Ireland somewhere close to where there is a school that caters for the childs special needs. Her problem is this that with the price that she would get for her house in England it will not buy her a house in Ireland.I doubt if she would get morgage as she is unable to work due to her circumstance. My question is does the State help in any way in giving her a chance to close the gap between what money she will get for her house in England and the price she would pay in Ireland. Is there another way out for her?. Who is the best people to get in contact with? I am just trying to help her out but to be honest I have not a clue about these situtions.Thanks in advance

 

[jrewing]

I would advise her to stay where she is. Nobody is going to subsidise her house in Ireland, and I'm sure that the care and facilities for special needs children is better in England than it is here.

I'm not even sure that she could claim social welfare here (at least not straight away), if she comes to Ireland. If she owns a house in England she would probably fail a means test anyway.

 

[Marie]

Hi! For years I arranged my visits to parents and family in Ireland in such a way I could escort the autistic teenage son of a friend who lived in London over for holidays with his father. This couple had actually split up because mother opted for living in the UK where special-needs facilities, respite care for herself, etc. were all available. It was a sobering experience to hear from someone deeply involved with this issue that resources were so scarce in Ireland.

I know there are wonderful organisations like St. John of Gods but my impression is the need is greater than the resources.

Your friend could research ahead on all the possibilities by arranging meetings with the Citizens Information Bureaux and Social Services who could give her details of available entitlements.

However unless the situation has changed dramatically in the past 10 years she will find that unfortunately Ireland has less provision for her child's needs and support for herself.

 

[Johnny Boy]

Hi Marie as it happens the child has autism and also her marraige broke up because of the pressures of autism. She wants to move close to her family. Just wanted to get some pratical advice.Thanks

 

[Fly]

Hi
From what I understand, autism is one of the areas that has received considerable investment in the past 10 years (largely due to persistent lobbying and hard work by parents). There are now a number of ABA schools in the country, which provide intense one to one education, and a recognition that this is the way to go.
www.autismireland.ie may provide more information on this and locations of schools.
Hope this helps.