The dream of safe, uncongested streets weaving through an unpolluted rural idyll and leading to the driveway of a comfortable, yet inexpensive, home minutes from work and all amenities is giving people second thoughts about living in the capital.

Thousands of people who are finding that the rat race in Dublin is actually a race to beat the traffic more than anything else are considering moving out of Dublin.

Operating business from beyond the "Pale" is an attractive option also for companies that do not have to be located in the capital to operate. Dublin, they have discovered, is not the be-all and end-all; now, people are leaving the city instead of flocking to it as was traditionally the case. According to a recent Eden Recruitment survey, 40 per cent of human resource managers across the State have found that their staffing levels are being affected or will shortly be affected by staff migration from Dublin to jobs outside the capital.

Forty-eight per cent of Dublin-based businesses surveyed said they were suffering the effects of staff migration out of Dublin. Half said they were not addressing the issue in any way; 11 per cent have reacted by setting up regional or suburban offices; and 7 per cent have introduced flexitime.

Ms Maria Guinane, head of the human resources division at Eden Recruitment, said the survey confirmed that high house prices and chronic traffic were affecting the competitiveness of the capital in terms of staff recruitment and retention. She also indicated that, for many, it was a perfect time to return home, where they could start a family and find attractive jobs with a better quality of life.

"Global opportunities, doorstep location" is how Mr Jason Kennedy, managing director of the Marlborough Group, describes the number of inward investment projects and foreign companies that are locating "outside of the Pale".

He has found that "the trend is slightly reversed," and that increasing numbers of people are looking past Dublin for employment, but the trend, he says "is only starting to gather momentum".

He says it is a quality of life decision; the push factors are cost of living, property prices and traffic congestion.

In excess of 5,000 people living in Dublin or overseas are currently registered with Marlborough for opportunities outside of Dublin. Mr Kennedy says that, based on anecdotal evidence, that is twice the number registered last year. Although people on the move may expect a drop in salary, Mr Kennedy says that "the differential in absolute salary costs is negligible" - people can expect a fall in salary of up to 3 per cent, compared to a 20 per cent difference in cost of living.

He believes that anybody with IT skills should not have a problem. "There's been a massive surge in IT opportunities," he says, "especially e-commerce development."

However, the availability of employment varies from job to job. Those in traditional city-based professions such as financial services may find difficulty, but Mr Kennedy believes it is only a matter of time before there is a similar spillover from the IFSC to rural areas as there was from London to Dublin.

Online recruitment company, Stepstone.ie, country manager Mr Oisin Mulcahy has found that job traffic is still eastbound and he hasn't seen any evidence of a trend in the opposite direction. But he says he has noticed a move to relocate call centres out of Dublin, and noted that there was no reason for services catering for international customers to be based in Dublin.

Stepstone, however, works with the rural candidate in mind. Mr Mulcahy says that "one of our priorities is that we don't have a Dublin bias". In support of this Stepstone has introduced regional teams who ensure there is a good mix of jobs countrywide. Because it is online, it makes jobs that would normally only have been advertised in regional newspapers more accessible to people outside of the area.

Mr Desmond O'Donnell, managing director of MRI Worldwide, says a lot of people are looking for a quality of lifestyle and feel they are not getting it in Dublin. High prices, violence, congestion and pollution are all deciding factors for people wanting to make a move from the capital. He suggests there should be "city money" for people working and living in Dublin because of the huge difference in cost of living, rents and mortgages.

Ms Anne-Marie Mullins, regional general manager with Skillsgroup, has found that more and more people have contacted them about jobs outside of Dublin over the last two years. "It's increasing all the time," she says. "There definitely is a huge demographic shift", which she attributes to traffic, prices, and competition, which are all associated with a large, growing metropolis.

The first preference of location is where a person is from, she says. As regards staying in the same salary bracket, Ms Mullins has noted that the "only differential is in some senior management positions" - staff may face a 20 per cent cut in salary.

Six thousand vacancies west of the Shannon has resulted in the need for a recruitment fair to meet the demand for professionals in the area - "Working in the West 2000", which is to take place on October 27th and 28th in Galway. The fair aims to attract jobseekers internationally and nationwide - especially from Dublin and the east coast - to the excellent quality of life, relatively lower cost of living and attractive environment that the area offers.

What it all boils down to, according to Eden Recruitment, is people being tempted away from the capital by several carrots including lower house prices, ease of commuting, the promise of idyllic surroundings and a good social life, etc, which add up to a more attractive lifestyle.