What is life in the south-east really like?
What does a month cost, how good is the healthcare, how safe is the region and how bad is the weather, really? The everyday life behind the decision to move.
Straight to the topics:Cost of livingSalary after taxWorking in IrelandIreland or EnglandWeather and climateHealthcareInsuranceCars, flights and ferriesCrime and safety
The big reasons for Ireland stand on the pillars of this site: the safe harbour, tax, property and, at the end of a real life in the country, the passport. This section sells nothing. It answers the questions that come after the decision and before everyday life: what a month costs, how the health system works, which insurance should be in place by when, how you get about with and without a car, and how safe life feels in a small town in the south-east.
The same rule applies to all of these pages as everywhere on this site: every figure comes from a named source with a date, mostly from the official bodies themselves, and where we could not prove something, the page says so. Everyday life is the part of emigrating that attracts the most rumour and the least evidence; these pages are meant to be the opposite. Read them in the order of your own questions, each one stands on its own.
Two of them deserve a word in advance. The page on insurance contains a real deadline: if you do not take out health insurance within nine months of moving, you pay an age loading for up to ten years, and that hits exactly the profile this site is written for. And the cost of living is the page to read first if you want to break Ireland’s reputation as an expensive country down into items with sources.
Cost of living
What a month really costs.
Salary after tax
What is left of an Irish salary after income tax, USC and PRSI.
Working in Ireland
The Irish CV, competency interviews, recruiters and the first payslip.
Ireland or England
Residence, rent, child benefit and tax compared.
Weather and climate
Why the south-east is drier than the rest of the island.
Healthcare
GP, HSE and private insurance side by side.
Insurance
Health, home and car insurance.
Cars, flights and ferries
Roads, airports and ferries: getting about in your own car.
Crime and safety
Crime figures and everyday life in a small town.
What depends on age in Ireland
Part of the Irish social system is tied not to years of contributions but simply to age and residence. For readers planning the move in retirement or shortly before, this is the section that surprises most people coming from abroad.
| Benefit | From | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Free Travel | from 66 | free travel on public transport and on certain private bus and ferry routes, for everyone who lives permanently in Ireland |
| Companion on Free Travel | from 66 for spouses and partners | a spouse or partner may travel free under certain conditions; since September 2025 everyone aged 70 or over is also entitled to a free companion |
| Household Benefits Package | from 70 | an allowance towards electricity or gas and a free television licence, regardless of income and of who else lives in the household |
Free Travel requires that you live permanently in Ireland. From 70 the Household Benefits Package is paid regardless of income; between 66 and 69 you can get it too, subject to further conditions.
Source: Citizens Information, Free Travel Scheme and Income supports for older people. As of: checked 17 September 2026.
The point most often overlooked: from 70 the Household Benefits Package is paid regardless of income and regardless of who else lives in the household. It is not a means-tested benefit. What depends on age in the health system is on the healthcare page.
Ask someone who lives there
Marc tells you what a price really means in your area, which school suits your family and in what order to tackle things. You take the steps yourself.