By Steenie Harvey
Wrapped in a soft green cloak of ancient memories, Ireland is one of the most beautiful and fascinating small countries in the world. Cast adrift in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Britain, this jewel of an island has become one of Europe's most desirable addresses for those wishing to swap the stresses of city life for old-fashioned rural bliss.
Whether you hope to rent or buy a property, it's easy to acquire residency here. Maybe your idea of heaven is a little whitewashed cottage, maybe it's a thatched farmhouse, or maybe even an ivy-clad Georgian mansion. A pretty bungalow with ocean views? A centuries-old castle? A city apartment? Somewhere in Ireland you'll find your dream home waiting.
Most expatriates are enticed here for many of the same reasons vacationers are. Ireland lures expats and visitors alike with its unique amalgam of storybook scenery coupled with space, safe streets, and a far more gentle way of life.
Along with an absorbing tangle of history, it also offers colorful festivals and curious traditions. What's more, its vibrant culture of music, dance, and poetry remains wonderfully intact and accessible to everybody. The country is so proud of its literary and cultural heritage that resident writers, artists, and musicians are allowed generous tax breaks. Here you're never considered too young or too old to learn to play the fiddle, take up painting, or write a masterpiece.
Between the bright lights of Dublin and the Atlantic's fossil shores, much of the country remains pleasingly rural, a pastoral haven of small farmsteads, quiet lanes, and rolling pasturelands. Particularly in the wilder reaches of the west, old-fashioned ways stubbornly survive with many communities clinging like limpets to the patterns of the seasons that departed from neighboring European countries generations ago.
Yet Ireland is also part of the new Europe, a modern country with good hospitals and top-class restaurants. Its capital, Dublin, is no stuffy museum-piece city but a place where you'll find cybercafés and a club scene as well as all that renowned Georgian architecture, traditional theater, and legendary pub crawls. And if you enjoy outdoor pursuits, there's plenty to keep you busy.
Most Irish people enjoy good living standards and the economy is in great shape, combining steady growth with low inflation. Rather than laboring in smokestack industries, many of the country's young and highly educated workforce are employed in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and computers. Your new Irish neighbors are just as likely to be working at the cutting edge of technology as tending sheep and cattle.
Areas covered include:

• Dublin
• The Western Seaboard
• The Southwest
• The Southeast
• The Northwest and Lakelands