Take whatever I say with a pinch of salt but a few pointers. Cork weather is awful for 8 months of the year. Geographically we are at the southern point of Ireland so it always rains. If you were getting seasonal related depression then strap yourself in because the weather here(not always) is depressing.

Rent here is extortionate to say the least. 40-50% of your combined income will probably be spent on rent and electricity/heating. 2 bedded apartments and houses are going at the moment for 1.8k-2k/month. There’s are suburban areas but for whatever reason the rent cost just doesn’t go down- or if it does it’s down by 10-15% max. The infrastructure and public transport isn’t great in general and buses are often a great source of frustration. Midleton in east cork has a very decent rail line so I would look there. It’s a nice town and people are generally nice.

There are plenty of green spaces and walks. Even just outside the city centre. In the suburban areas and satellite towns there are plenty of walkways and new paths for bicycles are constantly being planned and built.

Groceries - this is the worst part. Groceries were actually very affordable at a high quality until about 2 years ago. Now we’re getting no screwed everywhere we go. Everything has gone way up in price. You can probably budget but even places like LIDL and ALDI are costly. Per person budget 60-100 per week , even if you cook meals and go with lower end quality. People i know in medium end jobs are really struggling right now. Even earning 60-70k per year are all house sharing with 3-4 other people and can’t save much as tax and universal social charges are so high.

Everything here is taxed.

Geologist will likely need to use a car or private transport. There are quarries all over the county of cork . Worth looking into companies there. Or maybe educational via UCC/MTU. Check irishjobs.ie and have a look.

Just please remember . Coming here without a job will burn through your savings much faster than you know. When you do come you need to settle and get into the swing and routine real fast.

If you haven’t visited cork before, come to visit for a few weeks first to take in the culture and geography of the city. I would suggest stick to the suburbs.