In the 1980s, Irish workers moved to London in their droves to work on the building sites of soaring office towers for the City's burgeoning banking industry. Now many of the financial district's high-fliers are pondering a move to Dublin to escape long commutes, tube breakdowns and increasingly demanding work schedules, a new survey shows.

A poll of 1,400 UK financial professionals, most of whom live in London, revealed that more people would choose to move to Dublin than New York if they could keep their current role and pay package, according to eFinancialCareers.com, the UK's biggest online job site for finance staff.

About 74 per cent of those polled cited a need for a greater work-life balance as the main reason for wanting to quit London, where high pay and spectacular bonuses are failing to keep some City workers motivated. The majority of those keen to move were aged 30 or over.

"These are people who have been in the City for a while and are popping their heads up for a moment to ask themselves why they are working 100 hours a week," said Ian Brown, editor in chief of eFinancialCareers.com.

"It's sell your soul to the devil for a few years and then get out - and Dublin is one of the destinations to escape to."

Of those City finance employees who chose Dublin over New York in the poll, 48 per cent said that they'd be prepared to accept a pay cut to move away from London. Most of those interested in relocating to Dublin were investment bankers, accountants, asset managers and venture capitalists.

While London's bankers can clock up bonuses equal to several times their salaries, Dublin's financiers often earn a fraction of that and typically receive bonuses of 10-20 per cent, eFinancialCareers.com claims.

However, the staff shortages at the IFSC may give workers more leverage to demand the larger bonuses found in London, recruitment firm Joslin Rowe has found.

Some 3,000 people in the City are on track for a bonus of more than £1 million (€1.5 million) each, the Centre for Economics and Business Research said last week. About £7.5 billion in bonuses are due to be shared by City workers this winter, a 16 per cent increase on last year, according to the centre.

Although many of the respondents to eFinancialCareers.com's poll were willing to trade in staggering salaries and bonuses for a perceived easier life in Dublin, they were probably unfamiliar with Irish pay scales, the cost of living and commuting times, Brown said.

"From their perspective, in the malaise of London, where commutes are very long, Dublin seems slower-paced and more conducive to striking a work-life balance - that's what motivated people to respond the way they did," Brown said.

"Those aged 30-40 were the most likely to move, because they want their kids to grow up with some green around them - that's hard to find in London."

If the respondents did move to Dublin, they may be surprised to find that lucrative jobs for "front-office" revenue-generating roles are not that plentiful, Brown said.

London is home to trading floors, sales desks and corporate finance departments, which can all generate huge profits for banks - and employees are rewarded accordingly.

The lack of job talent in Dublin means work is mostly in "back-office" roles in fund administration, where bonuses pale in comparison to London payments.

Almost €615 billion of funds are administered here, and this is rising at a rate of more than 25 per cent a year, the Dublin Funds Industry Association has said.

Despite recent pay increases in the industry, Irish pay remains insufficient to lure fund administration professionals from London, Joslin Rowe said.

For instance, a supervisor working in a portfolio administration role in the City can expect a salary of about €54,000, as well as a bonus of up to 20 per cent. Their Dublin counterpart could expect a salary of €46,000, plus a 5- 15 per cent bonus.

In addition, many factors mitigate against Ireland's efforts to establish Dublin as a centre for front-office international funds.

These include a lack of scale and an unwillingness among decision makers to move from long established centres in London, New York and Frankfurt. Dublin's distance from the investment community, key financial markets and major corporations is another factor.

"Five years ago, especially during the dotcom boom, nothing could keep Dublin down, but front-office jobs have not materialised as much as people thought," Brown said. "My sense is that to draw someone from London would be a bit of a coup, so I wouldn't be surprised if a company looking for a big high-flier had to pay them London salaries."

In addition to an increase in Irish demand for hedge fund specialists and analysts, the private client side at the IFSC needs experienced employees, especially those who can bring their own private client book with them.

The number of employees working in the IFSC is likely to have grown by 1,000 to 11,700 last year, according to early estimates.

But even if some London finance professionals succumb to Dublin's lure of an improved quality of life and a vibrant financial environment, management at financial institutions in the City still need to address workers' disillusionment with their current working life, Brown said. That strategy, he said, typically boosts banks' profits.

"Employees at banks that do spend time looking out for their staff stick around longer and are more productive," he said.