Irish flag

W3C Validation

Pros and Cons

PROS

  1. Taxes on work in Ireland remain the lowest in the developed economies. Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) show that the difference between the total cost of employing a person and their net take home pay is lower in Ireland than in any other member of the group.
  2. Smoking ban and plastic bag tax.
  3. Artists Tax Exemption.
  4. VRT rebate for eco-friendly cars.
  5. No rabies or snakes.
  6. A United Nations report has rated Ireland as the fourth best country in which to live.
  7. Ireland is now the second wealthiest nation in the world with more than 30,000 millionaires living here, according to new research published by Bank of Ireland Private Banking.
  8. Ireland is so beautiful the journey is usually at least as pretty as the destination.
  9. People are friendly, loquacious & charming, give a stranger a nod on the street or a sign of recognition from their vehicles.
  10. People are extremely honest in most cases. One often sees notes in stores for lost keys, jewelry, and cash.
  11. Government offer free education and often pay students to take FÁS courses to get back into the work force.
  12. Government offer grants for such things as new wells & water filtration systems, paying 75% of costs.
  13. Government offers Drugs Payment Scheme.
  14. Nuclear free zone.
  15. Irish National Health system 'exists'. Private medical insurance costs per year what Americans pay per month.

CONS

  1. The Irish obsession with owning their own home has bred a new generation who are refusing to leave their parents' house until well into their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. Spiralling property prices have caused the number of KIPPERS (Kids in Parents' Pads Eroding Retirement Savings) to soar. It is likely that the majority of KIPPERS are saving to invest in a property of their own. A recent Central Statistics Office study has found that over 450,000 adults still reside with their parents. This figure represents 12% of the entire population of the country. As one commentator remarked 'Irish mammies don't have apron strings, they have steel cables.' Couples buying in Dublin need 37 per cent of their joint net incomes to make mortgage repayments. The national average is 28 per cent.
  2. Average house price is at €350,000. The price of agricultural land which hit a record breaking €70,000 per acre in the west, is unlikely to drop despite the uncertainty in farming, the new president of the IAVI has said. Irish grocery prices continue to be among the highest in Europe. Ireland ranks as one of the highest cost of living rates in the world.
  3. Over 9 per cent of the population is classed as consistently poor, with 23% at risk of poverty. Almost 50,000 more people are living in consistent poverty than were previously thought, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute. 66,000 children living in consistent poverty.
  4. 'One of every 5 children leave school with inadequate literacy' - Burton TD
  5. The Republic is the third highest consumer of oil per head in the European Union (EU), according to a report published by State enterprise agency Forfas. Industrial electricity prices are 30% higher in the Republic than in the UK while gas is 20% more expensive here. Ireland will have to pay tens of millions of euro in annual penalties to meet its obligations to curb carbon dioxide emissions by 2012 in line with United Nations Kyoto Treaty commitment
  6. Close to 22,000 operations were cancelled by 34 hospitals across the State in 2006, because the hospitals they were scheduled to be admitted to for elective surgery in 2005 had no vacant beds. Up to 300 persons can be waiting for a bed while on trolleys in corridors in a typical day around the country. Around 29,000 patients could be on hospital waiting lists across the State. This figure has been extrapolated from waiting-list figures for 19 hospitals published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The number of patients who pick up MRSA in Irish hospitals is higher than in many northern European countries because the resources put into fighting the problem in this State are not the same as in the other countries. 0 hospitals have good hygiene standards in an independent audit. 240 persons are estimated to have been killed by MRSA every year (432 confirmed cases in the first nine months of 2007) and 15 died in Ennis General Hospital the first six months of 2007 from superbug C Difficile. Despite massive investment in recent years the availability of healthcare in Ireland continues to be seen as second-rate when compared to EU and world standards. Ireland and the UK have the lowest levels of statutory maternity benefits in western Europe, according to a new study. Public patients can be waiting up to a year and a half for crucial tests to determine if they are suffering from conditions such as bowel cancer, according to new figures as Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports. 9 women were misdiagnosed at Portlaise Hospital having been told they did NOT have breast cancer. A 52 year old breast cancer patient was given the all-clear 3 times before the disease was discovered.
  7. Ireland still has VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax), which artificially inflates the price of new and used cars by up to 40%. The very existence of this tax continues to make Ireland's support of a single EU internal market something of a joke. With the 44 cent per litre tax, 2% Government levy on motor insurance, etc. the Government is taxing motorists to the tune of €4.6bn.
  8. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has stated that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of income tax in the developed world. Only 8% of gross earnings of a one-income family with 2 children is taxed, when state benefits are added back. Critics of the Irish taxation regime point out that the exorbitant 21% value added tax (sales tax) on most goods more than makes up for the relatively benign income tax regime. Unmarried workers earning the average industrial wage face income taxation of 26%. The middle income tax rate is 42%.
  9. Signage in Ireland is abysmal - finding a house address usually means counting down (or up) - and wondering, as you do so, are the numbers sequential or alternates - using as the navigational anchor the one resident who has bothered to provide a clear number for his or her house, readable from the street. Tourists crane their necks peering at often dirty or non-existent signs, designed to be read by short-sighted adult giraffes, as they try to find their way around confused and confusing streets.  Motorists stop in the middle of junctions as they assess the quality of the road pavement as a guide to which way to turn.
  10. Water quality in more than one third of Ireland's rivers and lakes fails to comply with the 1998 Phosphorus Regulations - and farmers are among the prime culprits, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
  11. A new official survey has revealed widespread public anxiety relating to current levels of crime and public disorder, with 85% of those polled either "very" or "fairly" concerned about the issue. More than 85% of gangland gun murders committed in the Republic since 1998 have failed to result in a conviction, it has emerged.
  12. Men continue to earn more than women, the survey found, although the gender gap differs significantly across sectors and age groups. On average women earned €14.93 per hour or 84 per cent of average male earnings of €17.74. Across broad economic sectors, the greatest difference was in the financial sector where male earnings, €30.62 on average, were almost 50% higher than female earnings of €20.32.
  13. The Irish economy remains highly reliant on US multinationals, and increasingly at risk of them relocating to eastern Europe, according to a study.