Cost of living in Ireland – 2015

accommodation prices

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.)

You can buy a leap card which can get you all over the country and you can top up online.
leapcard.ie/en/
In Dublin bus fare into the city is about 2.50 euro with Luas light rail roughly the same

> food prices (your monthly budget)
Food prices are very reasonable due to competition between supermarkets. Weekly shop for  family of 4 is about 250 euro including breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days for 4 people

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)
Reasonable but public system is good...you do have a long wait for elective surgery however.

> education prices (if you need to pay)

Private schools are cheap for what they offer. Elite secondary school cost 5K a year per student which compared to other countries is a bargain.

> energy prices (oil, electricity)
mid-range. If you get a long cold winter your wallet will suffer.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)

Package with UPC gives you cable TV, free landline calls, almost free landline to mobile calls all for around 50 euro a month. Broadband speeds excellent.

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant
40-50 euro

> price for a coffee or a drink
3.50 medium coffee, 2.00 coke, pint is about 5 euro. Wine 6 euro.

> price for cinema tickets
2.50 on Sunday 11am, otherwise around 10 euro

Also accommodation is around 1600 to rent a 3-bed townhouse in an upmarket area of Dublin..so not too bad compared with other places.

Hi All,
I'm living in Killaloe, Co. Clare in the west of Ireland.

> accommodation prices -- €600-800 per mth for a 3BR flat €850-1200 for a 4BR house.

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.) Expensive (ie €18rtn to Limerick) and only 2 buses daily. Rtn from Birdhill, a nearby village to Dublin is better @€22-25 rtn. But again, you couldn't day trip and stay for dinner & the theatre because the last bus out is at 21:00. :-(

> food prices (your monthly budget) I'm primarily a veggie and there's a Sunday market where organic is available and a nearby organic veg farm and a health food store in the village. About €40 a week. Thursday a fish monger comes up from Wexford so I get the occasional piece of fish from him at good value.

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance) As an American I'm required to have private medical insurance. It is now €78 a month. Dear enough.

> education prices (if you need to pay)  My 22 year old son will be attending university in the autumn and his fees are only €3k per year. A real bargain. My husband was British so Alex had a choice of where to study, but fees in the UK are £9k per year. Beyond that the cost of living in Dublin or London is essentially the same.

> energy prices (oil, electricity)  Are high. My last bill for Dec/Jan was €370 for gas/electric. We are often four people in the penthouse and my house mate is a chef so we have the washing machine going often, several computers on the go and we do a fair amount of cooking. But it's a lot more than I paid in the states.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) I cancelled my internet connection when I took out a '3' mobile phone contract with "All You Can Eat" internet for €52 a month and unlimited telephone service in Ireland & the UK. Hellava deal. We don't watch much TV and if we do it's on Solarmovie or Netflix or one of the players if there was something really interesting, and that's online so runs off my '3' account.

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant  There are several good restaurants in the area, avg starter price is €5/ main course €18. A good and generous bowl of seafood chowder goes for €8.

> price for a coffee or a drink  An excellent large cappuccino goes for €2.50 in one of several very pleasant cafe's in the village. €4.20/ shots about the same/ a glass of wine €4.50-7.50.

> price for cinema tickets  Usually €9. But all day Wed all tickets are a fiver for all shows.

> taxi service -- limited and expensive, i.e. €28 to Limerick by day +€5 for after 6pm service.

Do not hesitate to add items to this list!

Hi All,
I'm living in Galway city, Co. Galway in the west of Ireland.

> accommodation prices -- €600-800 per mth for a 2BR flat.

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.) - €2 around town

> food prices (your monthly budget)  About €20 a week.

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance) expensive, if not covered by company.

> education prices (if you need to pay)  N/A

> energy prices (oil, electricity)  Are moderate. My last bill for Dec/Jan was €180 for electric.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) reasonable  €45/month.

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant  Expensive. €15-20 in a decent restaurant

> price for a coffee or a drink   - don't drink that.

> price for cinema tickets  N/A 

> taxi service -- decent, €10.00 to get from salthill to downtown galway

Thank you all for sharing these information on the forum.

Shaazia
Expat.com Team

Hi,
I live in Dundalk, CO Louth.

> accommodation prices

650/800 euros for a 3 bed house.

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.)

I pay 14 euros for a day return to Dublin, there are many buses, that's a 180km round trip so I'm happy with the price.

> food prices (your monthly budget)

Approx 420/month for 2 adults and 5 pets. I'm very happy with the food prices, compared the prices in my country of birth.

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)

I have a private insurance that helps me with bills but I think that medication is very expensive. And also if you don't have a medical card you need to pay 100 euros for any visit to the ER.

> education prices (if you need to pay)

N/A

> energy prices (oil, electricity)

My electricity bill is approx. 150 euros every 2 months for 2 adults. We pay 200 euros for oil, 2 or 3 times a year.

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)

55 euros a month for internet + landline phone. For mobile phones, we top-up 10 euros from time to time, and I'm happy that there is no time limit to use it. However I'm very unhappy with the fact that we are not connected to TV channels, and still need to pay 13 euros a month for the TV license, just because we have a TV that we only use for the Xbox.

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant

We pay between 20 and 30 euros for a very good dinner for 2.

> price for a coffee or a drink

4 or 5 euros for a beer!

> price for cinema tickets

9 euros

Do not hesitate to add items to this list!

I'm happy with the vet bills! For example, 40 euros for a dog/cat vaccination. 60 euros for neutering + microshipping a cat. 20 euros for a rabbit vaccination.

Thank you for sharing the information

It seems like Ireland is a bit cheaper then UK