{"id":3719,"date":"2026-10-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2026-10-11T17:14:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:14:01","slug":"they-gave-dubai-three-years-of-tax-free-money-and-came-home-to-mullinavat-we-saved-a-deposit-and-lost-every-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/they-gave-dubai-three-years-of-tax-free-money-and-came-home-to-mullinavat-we-saved-a-deposit-and-lost-every-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"They gave Dubai three years of tax-free money and came home to Mullinavat \u2014 \u2018we saved a deposit and lost every Sunday\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The smell<\/strong> of turf smoke meets the mist<\/strong> on the road into Mullinavat, and two carry-on bags clack over the grit<\/strong>. They came back with a deposit<\/strong>, a timeline, and a quiet promise<\/strong> to make the next chapter feel slower than the last.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They talk about heat<\/strong> like a character in their marriage<\/strong>. They talk about glass<\/strong> towers and the cool dark<\/strong> of a Kilkenny kitchen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a deal<\/strong> with ourselves,\u201d says Aoife, her hands around a mug<\/strong>. \u201cThree years<\/strong>, save hard, don\u2019t look down<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why they left<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

The math was blunt<\/strong>, and the rent was rising<\/strong>. Commuting to Dublin<\/strong> from the South East ate their time<\/strong>, and tax carved out their tomorrows<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dubai offered salary<\/strong>, speed, and the kind of clarity<\/strong> only a zero on the payslip\u2019s tax line can bring<\/strong>. \u201cWe weren\u2019t chasing champagne<\/strong>,\u201d says Liam. \u201cWe were chasing breathing<\/strong> room.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The grind behind the glitter<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

The skyline was silver<\/strong>, but the hours were long<\/strong>. Six-day weeks<\/strong>, rotating shifts, WhatsApp pinging through the night<\/strong> as clients chased approvals across time<\/strong> zones.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Friday felt strange<\/strong>, Sunday felt stolen<\/strong>. \u201cBack home, Sunday is family<\/strong>, GAA, the roast and a slow walk<\/strong>,\u201d Aoife says. \u201cOver there, it became just another<\/strong> block in the calendar<\/strong>.\u201d Calls to parents<\/strong> happened in car parks, half-eaten meals<\/strong> cooling on desks, small talk<\/strong> lost in the lag of screens<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They learned the codes<\/strong> of a city that never blinks<\/strong>. No unions of neighbors<\/strong>, but a constellation of colleagues<\/strong> from everywhere and nowhere<\/strong>. The beach was perfect<\/strong>, and they saw it almost never<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What the money changed<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Three years of tax-free<\/strong> pay did what no Irish paycheque<\/strong> could. They wiped a credit-card<\/strong> balance, built an emergency<\/strong> fund, and watched their deposit grow dense<\/strong> as a January sky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept our lives<\/strong> small,\u201d says Liam. \u201cNo supercars<\/strong>, no brunch marathons<\/strong>, just packed lunches<\/strong> and a whiteboard that said \u2018two paydays<\/strong> to go\u2019.\u201d The bonus season<\/strong> hit; the spreadsheet turned green<\/strong>. They wired money home<\/strong>, and the future got louder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Coming back to a smaller map<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Landing at Dublin<\/strong> felt like stepping into a photo<\/strong> album. On the drive to Kilkenny<\/strong>, the fields looked tidier<\/strong>, the hedges more certain<\/strong>, the margins of life a little less blurred<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The house hunt was stubborn<\/strong>, but the mortgage meeting was possible<\/strong>. Mullinavat offered anchors<\/strong>: faces you nod to, names you remember<\/strong>, a timetable set by fixtures<\/strong> and funerals, not targets<\/strong> and traffic cones<\/strong>. \u201cI missed<\/strong> hearing the postman whistle,\u201d Aoife says. \u201cI missed the nuisance<\/strong> of weather and the way it decides<\/strong> your day.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They felt the pinch<\/strong> too: groceries are dear<\/strong>, trades are booked<\/strong>, and interest rates still annoy<\/strong>. But the centre of gravity<\/strong> moved back to the village<\/strong>, and the noise in their heads turned down<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Sundays they\u2019re taking back<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

They keep them sacred<\/strong> now. No laptops<\/strong>, phones facedown in a drawer<\/strong>, the car pointed to a pitch<\/strong> or a beach with wind<\/strong> strong enough to sting their eyes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe banked<\/strong> a deposit,\u201d Liam says, \u201cbut what we really wanted<\/strong> were those slow hours<\/strong> that don\u2019t try to sell<\/strong> you anything.\u201d In a single week<\/strong>, they get more real weather<\/strong>, more mud<\/strong>, and more random doorstep chats<\/strong> than in a month of marble<\/strong> lobbies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What three years taught them<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n
  • Say yes to the big jump<\/strong>, but keep your why<\/strong> in sight.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  • Save like the job will end<\/strong>, and spend like the sun might set<\/strong> early.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  • Guard routines that make you human<\/strong>, especially one day<\/strong> a week.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  • When you come home<\/strong>, plan for reverse shock<\/strong> and small, happy boredoms<\/strong>.<\/li>\n

    \n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The ledger that really matters<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    A life can be tallied<\/strong> in numbers, but the rows don\u2019t catch the weather<\/strong> of a Sunday in October<\/strong> or the sound of studs on tarmac<\/strong> before a minor match<\/strong>. The apartment with the view<\/strong> has been traded for a semi-d<\/strong> with a hedge that needs scolding<\/strong>, a hallway that traps the day\u2019s rain<\/strong>, and a kitchen that keeps last night\u2019s laughter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    They still check FX<\/strong> rates out of habit<\/strong>, still glance at the news<\/strong> from a city that moves like a drone<\/strong> shot. But the centre of their map<\/strong> is a small dot with cows<\/strong> in the margins and a shop that sells batteries<\/strong>, bread, and gossip in the same breath<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \u201cWas it worth<\/strong> it?\u201d Aoife smiles, a little tired<\/strong>, mostly sure<\/strong>. \u201cWe got what we came<\/strong> for, and we\u2019re getting back what we missed<\/strong>.\u201d On the coat rack, there are high-vis jackets<\/strong>, a GAA scarf<\/strong>, and two umbrellas drying into their next ordinary<\/strong> day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3751,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions\/3751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}