Hello all,

Me and my boyfriend (Stefan) of 8 years are Canadian citizens with three children aged 6, 4 and 2.  Because of Stefan's father being a German national when he was born here in Canada, Stefan was entitled to have dual German/Canadian citizenship, as well as our three children.  I have wanted to move to Ireland for a very long time, and at this time, there seems to be a lot of construction (house framing jobs) available and he's had a couple of solid offers.  All that being said, can he just arrive in Ireland and work like that?  He's not Irish obviously, but does being an EU allow him to just move right in? He has never lived in the EU, only Canada.  Will he need any type of residence permit or the such?  Also, if and when the time comes for me and the kids to join him, what will I need to do in the way of being allowed to live/work there?  If we do end up getting married (as we have been talking about for some time), would it serve us better to already be married when arriving in Ireland or marrying there?  Further to that, can I just arrive in Ireland intending to live there without first having applied for a Visa or do I do that once I've arrived?  Are the children, who also hold dual German/Canadian passports be allowed to attend school and reside in Ireland because of their belonging to the EU or am I missing something?  I feel there may be more required as they're not Irish citizens.  I hope someone can enlighten me.  Sorry, if there are too many issues expressed here.