Alan and Linda O'Keeffe arrived in Doonaha with their four children last August. A tiny village on the west Clare peninsula, its church and the name over the closed pub are the only indications that it is more than a cluster of houses. The O'Keeffes left a corporation house in Jobstown, Tallaght, where their sleep was constantly shattered by burglar alarms triggered by heavy early-morning traffic on the Blessington road. In Doonaha, the quietness is arresting.

Alan says they made the move so their children, all aged under 13, would have a better life away from drug problems, stolen cars and kids hanging around on street corners: "The only way we were getting out of there was, either we would win the Lotto or the resettlement programme."

What immediately convinced Linda that they were making the right decision was the sight of the beach in Kilkee's horseshoe bay, six miles from where they live.

First year in Kilkee Community College is "brilliant", says their eldest child, Sarah.

The other three children make up nearly a quarter of the 13 pupils at the local two-teacher primary school. In summer they go to Kilkee Waterworld, while their nearest beach is a 10-minute walk away.

But the family has realised the value of having Tallaght Hospital on its doorstep. Last summer, eight-year-old Gareth injured himself falling out of the top bunk of the caravan they lived in temporarily.

Linda broke her leg in a fall recently and found there was no bone specialist in Ennis Co Hospital; and the 64-mile weekly trips to Limerick Regional Hospital have been wearing. "It is the only disadvantage we have had here so far, is the lack of a hospital," says Alan.