Increasing numbers of people are being attracted by the cheaper housing and lower living costs offered by regions outside the capital, writes Gabrielle Monaghan

As Irish house prices rise at the fastest pace in six years, increasing numbers of people are escaping the Dublin rat race to search for work in the northwest, where they can avail of cheaper housing and lower living costs, recruitment agencies say.

While a home in the capital cost on average €368,576 last year, jobseekers willing to relocate from Dublin could have snapped up a house in Co Leitrim for an average €200,000 or in Co Clare for €244,415.

Indeed, lower property prices and the cheaper cost of living account for 50 per cent of relocations to the northwest, according to a recent survey conducted by recruitment firm Collins McNicholas and the Western Development Commission.

"There's a growing interest among Irish professionals in relocating to the region," says Lisa McAllister, chief executive of the Western Development Commission.

"We have witnessed strong growth in employment opportunities, particularly in the medical, pharmaceutical, and financial services industries in the region."

More than 500 people flocked to the Western Development Commission's Look West recruitment fair in Dublin earlier this month to find out more about the region.

Collins McNicholas teamed up with the Look West campaign to give information about employment opportunities - including 600 immediate job vacancies - in counties Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Longford, Westmeath and Cavan.

"In London, people who work in essential services, such as firemen and nurses, can't afford to live in the city centre boroughs, and it's getting like that in Dublin," says Jane Lorigan, group marketing director of Keyland, which owns Irishjobs.ie.

"Sometimes there's a perception that all the employment opportunities are in Dublin, but that's no longer the case."

Almost two-thirds of the 71 IDA Ireland-supported investments by foreign companies last year were outside Dublin.

US financial firm Bisys chose Waterford as its base for a hedge fund operation, creating 250 jobs, while Axa Assistance picked Athlone for its second Irish business.

Co Galway attracted more medical technology companies, including Respironics and Labcoat Ltd, while Toucan chose Co Sligo for its new 300-person customer service centre.

Moreover, accepting a job outside Dublin need not always mean taking a pay cut. Some 75 per cent of professionals who move to the northwest have a similar salary or less, the Collins McNicholas survey showed.

In Co Cavan, where house prices averaged €236,749 in 2005, an internal auditor can earn between €45,000 and €52,000 a year, compared to a Dublin average of €47,000 to €58,000, according to figures compiled by Irishjobs.ie.

In Co Wexford, a quantity surveyor earns between €40,000 and €62,000, compared with a range of €45,000 to €65,000 for the capital. However, house prices in Co Wexford are about one-third less than in Dublin.

Property experts, though, recommend that families considering leaving Dublin choose their new home town carefully, and that they should start with the location of the regional airports. The benefit of daily flights to Dublin and the UK from airports in counties Kerry, Cork, Mayo and other regions is leading some property buyers to live in the countryside and fly to meetings.

Those mulling a relocation should also keep in mind areas earmarked for development under the Government's National Spatial Strategy and National Development Plan, as well as the decentralisation plan. In many cases, those areas overlap.

The Government's spatial strategy, announced in late 2002, was designed to develop a variety of population centres outside the capital. The strategy designated specific towns and cities for this purpose.

Just over a year later, it outlined its decentralisation plan, which aimed to send more than 10,000 civil servants to 58 centres in 25 of the 26 counties by 2007, including entire Government departments and State agencies.

However, because of the reluctance of many civil servants to move from Dublin, the Taoiseach has said that the Government may not reach its decentralisation target by next year.

While some civil servants may be reluctant to leave the capital, the Look West campaign is at pains to show them what they are missing out on.

Its website (www.lookwest.ie) points out that most food and alcohol is cheaper outside Dublin, with a salmon steak costing 9 per cent less, roast beef 10 per cent less, and a pint of beer 13 per cent cheaper.

Shorter commuter times, the chance to spend more time outdoors, friendlier people, less stress, and more leisure time were among the other reasons for moving to the northwest given in the Collins McNicholas survey.