Life in ireland.. jobs, housing, etc..?

on of these fine days i plan on leaving america, and moving to ireland.. i know nothing about how school works over there.. does everyone finish high school? what about college? and how hard is it to work if you dont go to college? tell me everything!!

How school works - start age four or five, primary school to about age 12, school day 9 to 3 pm September to end of June. Secondary school to about age 18, school day 9 to 4, September to end of May. Have to stay at school to age 16, but most people continue. Those who leave early have other courses available to them, or may do apprenticeship. Some opt for building or labouring work, but the choices are more limited if they leave school early. Most school leavers now continue to college or university and education is free except for the private colleges.

Jobs .... housing ..... there are jobs to be found, but depending on what you want to do and your previous experience, it might take a short while to find the right job. Housing is more expensive to buy or rent in Dublin (and hard to find) and also the major cities, but move further out into the country and the picture is brighter.

Whenever you come - failte romhat (you're welcome)

Hey ya, im thinking about doing the oppisite and going your way(any tips or info would be great)! Yeah our schools have a high completion rate and theres always the option of dropping out and getting a trade(hairdressing etc) or doing part time courses while you work! With so many hotels, bars, shopping centres, hairdressers, factorys etc work is generally easy enough to pick up! Definatly worth coming over here though for the sessions . . .

well its a bit like this at the moment.
we're about to see the end of unprecedented growth, over the last 6-7 years the economy has boomed and income has shot up, this hasnt necessarily meant that quality of life for everyone has gone up. so really we've got alot more financially rich but time poor people than before.
housing in ireland is .......mmm..... a bit of a disaster, irish people are generally property obsessed like no other nation on earth, i find it ridiculous that a 2 bed flat should cost the same as a 3 bed house but thats generally how it looks. landlords as a rule will generally suck you dry and even moreso here as they have the upper hand due to insane house prices (as theres a shortage - due to our property preferences here which basically is the "my castle" - im safe fk everyone else attitude)
most people finish highschool.
i would guess you will find work, the quality of the job is a different story.
right now for example we have an influx of eastern europeans (especially polish) and industry is very happy to supply them with low paid hard work. as the flood of easterners continues it will be necessary to have a good education to get a nice job with fair pay (the easterners will work harder for less - their getting paid twice what they would at home).
transport is screwed here. period.
the education system - surprisingly - isnt that bad.
i could go on ...blah blah blah.
your best bet for getting a good picture would be to look at the newspapers - try irish independant, sunday independant, sunday business post, irish daily mail.
its not all bad though........ but i will say that you may have missed the party by 3/4 years ...... and the hangover is about to kick in.

Get your head out of the clouds and do some bloody research, man. The standard of education here is much higher than in the US, practically everyone finishes secondary school (what we call 'high school') and if you are an Irish or EU national, third level or university education is a lot less expensive because its value is appreciated. It's hard to get work if you don't do some sort of third level educational course, doesn't have to be university though, VEC training often sets you up well for a job, and employers do encourage further part-time training.