Ireland’s First-Home Divide: A Six-Figure Salary Is Now Required in Three Irish Counties.
A single first-time buyer now needs to earn more than €100,000 a year to buy a typical home in Dublin, Wicklow or Kildare, according to new research from Chill Insurance. Last year, Dublin was the only county where a six-figure salary was needed.
The estimated salary required is €108,000 in Dublin, €101,250 in Wicklow and €100,238 in Kildare. Yet the current national median salary is only €44,816. Even in Longford, the country’s most affordable county, a single buyer would need to earn €48,375.
The figures assume that buyers have a 10% deposit and can borrow four times their annual income; the usual Central Bank limit. They are estimates and do not include personal debts, household bills or other circumstances.
There is no easy answer to this problem. State schemes can help some people with their deposit or the gap between their mortgage and the purchase price. However, Ireland also needs many more affordable homes, including smaller homes and apartments for people buying alone.
Simply allowing people to borrow more could push prices even higher. Research from the OECD’s Economic Survey suggested in 2025, that the lasting solution is to build more homes by speeding up planning, making serviced land available, lowering construction costs and building more suitable housing near/close to places of employment and public transport.
The real warning is clear: an average single worker can no longer today afford a typical first home in any Irish county. Home ownership is increasingly limited to couples, high earners or people who can get financial help from their families or the Irish State.
Thousands of Vodafone Ireland customers were left without broadband on Saturday after a major service interruption affected users across the country.
The disruption began at approximately 3.16pm yesterday August 29th, with outage-monitoring website Downdetector recording 31,498 reports as the problem escalated. Customers in several counties including Tipperary, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Louth and Cavan, reported losing their internet connections. Some users also experienced poor mobile-data service and Vodafone’s 1907 refusing to answer calls.
The outage prompted a wave of complaints on social media, with many customers searching for information about when their connections would return. Vodafone acknowledged the problem in an online statement, confirming that service interruptions were affecting its broadband network. The company said its technical teams were working to restore connectivity and apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Shortly after 11.15pm, Vodafone announced that broadband service had been restored and connections were returning to affected customers. However, this morning in areas of Tipperary no services were restored, confirmed by their recorded voice over on 1907 contact phone number. The incident has also renewed concerns among some customers in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, who say their broadband frequently fails during periods of heavy rain. While Saturday’s disruption was a nationwide network incident, recurring weather-related outages in one locality could indicate a separate problem involving local lines, cabinets or water entering damaged connections.
However, the service operated by Vodafone in areas of Tipperary are most certainly seen as totally unreliable.
Lyrics and Vocals: The late, great American singer-songwriter of country-folk music, John Edward Prine (1946–2020)
Late John Prine.
With his trademark blend of wit and heartache, John Prine turns an unhappy relationship into a wonderfully funny escape act. Same was featured as a live bonus track on his Grammy-winning 2005 album “Fair & Square”.
Other Side of Town.
Other Side of Town.
Why must you always seem to criticise me. Seems like everything I do just turns out wrong. Why don’t you come on out and despise me, So I could pack my bag and baby I’d be gone.
Remember when you used to call me honey. Well I’d turn around and call you honey too. You might think it’s a joke, but it ain’t funny, To hurt someone who’s so in love with you.
Chorus.
A clown puts his makeup on upside down, So, he wears a smile even when he wears a frown. You might think I’m here when you put me down, But actually I’m on the other side of town.
My body’s in this room with you just catching hell, While my soul is drinking beer down the road a spell. You might think I’m listening to your grocery list, But I’m leaning on the jukebox and I’m about half … way there.
Repeat Chorus.
I’m sittin’ on a chair just behind my ear, Playing dominoes and drinking some ice cold beer. When you get done talking, I’ll come back downstairs, And assume the body of the person you presume who cares.
Repeat Chorus.
I’m across the river on the other side of town. And in my mind I’m going to the dog-racing side of town.
Most of Cabragh Road in Thurles was resurfaced over the past week, following the deterioration and collapse of sections of the road surface after water-service works were carried out some years ago.
Much of the new surface appears to have been finished to a good standard. However, several sections near homes and businesses; including the area entrance to O’Meara Oil, now appear to be incomplete and potentially hazardous.
As our photographs show, the newly laid asphalt ends in a rough, abrupt and raised edge beside an uneven pedestrian margin. Anyone walking out from town may suddenly encounter a section where the resurfacing covers only part of the available roadside space.
Pic: G. Willoughby.
This presents particular difficulties for:
► wheelchair and mobility-scooter users; ► parents pushing children in buggies; ► people using walking aids; ► older pedestrians and those with impaired balance; ► cyclists moving close to the road edge; and ► residents entering or leaving adjoining properties.
Small wheelchair castors or buggy wheels could catch against the raised lip or loose stone. A pedestrian attempting to avoid the uneven surface could also be forced closer to moving traffic.
Pic: G. Willoughby.
The unfinished edge may create further problems if it is not corrected promptly. Water could collect along the change in level instead of draining freely, increasing the risk of puddles, splashing and deterioration. Water entering an unsealed pavement edge can weaken it, while passing traffic may loosen the exposed aggregate and cause the asphalt to ravel or break away progressively.
The resulting loose stones could become an additional slipping or skidding hazard. Repeated vehicle loading may also widen the damaged edge, leaving potholes, crumbling margins and an even greater difference in level.
Pic: G. Willoughby.
Serious questions therefore arise: Why were these sections left at a different level? Was pedestrian and wheelchair access assessed before the work was accepted? Were drainage and connections to entrances properly examined? Has the resurfacing received a final inspection? Is the contractor expected to return and complete the margins?
Fresh road markings and a new running surface do not make a project complete if unsafe edges remain beside homes, businesses and pedestrian routes.
These locations should now be inspected urgently by Tipperary County Council, made safe without delay and brought to a properly finished, accessible and well-drained standard. The council provides an official service for reporting damaged roads and footpaths, including an online “Fix-it”facility, [which today same consultation portal, despite every attempt, refused access].
Which begs another question; Where have “Refresh Thurles” members vanished to? Note: Refresh Thurles members have failed to note that those working on this re-surfacing project, forgot to take their litter with them.
The public should not have to wait until somebody falls, a wheelchair becomes trapped or the newly laid surface begins to disintegrate before action is taken.
Tipperary residents and visitors are being advised to prepare for unsettled weather, with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast this weekend.
Met Éireann has issued a nationwide weather advise, valid from 3am on Sunday, 30th August, until 3am on Monday, 31st August 2026.
Heavy showers and longer spells of rain are expected to spread from the southwest on Saturday night and become widespread during Sunday. Some areas may experience torrential downpours, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds.
Although the most severe conditions are expected to be localised and intermittent, surface water and localised flooding are possible. Road users should allow additional travel time and exercise particular care in areas affected by heavy rainfall.
The weather is expected to remain unsettled into next week, with further rain, occasionally heavy showers and breezy conditions.
The public should continue to monitor updates from Met Éireann and Tipperary County Council.
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