Minimum-wage workers in Ireland face rents among highest in Europe
Low-paid workers in Ireland now face the second-highest level of rental expenditure across 21 European Union countries, according to new research examining the reality for those on a minimum wage. The €1,366 average rent across Ireland for a one- to two-bedroom home would cost a worker on the €2,391 national minimum wage more than half of their monthly income, a report by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has found.Among the 21 EU states with a statutory minimum wage, that 57.2 per cent of income figure for Ireland is second only to the 61.3 per cent those on the lowest permissible salary in Malta would have to pay for accommodation.The corresponding figure in Poland is 33 per cent and in France 38.1 per cent.READ MORECork man Morgan McSweeney perplexes Westminster as he finally speaks How can I get the bank to take my husband off our €120k mortgage as part of our divorce? Gary Lydon: Actor best known for Banshees of Inisherin role diesHow weight-loss drugs are reshaping modern life: ‘I’m paying €250 a month not to eat’ The ETUI research also looked at capital cities and found a minimum-wage worker in Dublin would have to find an additional €306 per month to pay the average €2,697 rent in Dublin for a one- or two-bedroom home, representing 112 per cent of income.The minimum wage in Ireland is the second-highest of any country in the EU, next to Luxembourg, but rents in Dublin were found to be higher than any of the other capitals. [ Teacher shortages: High cost of living creates Dublin ‘brain drain’Opens in new window ]In Prague, Lisbon and Paris, average rents were found to be over €700 more than the minimum wages there. Average national rents quoted in the research were based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data for 2023, adjusted to 2026 levels using Eurostat Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices.Commenting on the findings, European Trade Union general secretary Esther Lynch said the disconnect between rent and pay was unsustainable. “When you add in the rising costs of energy and food, working people are left having to borrow for necessities and virtually no disposable income – making saving to replace essential household appliances, or a dentist visit, an impossibility,” she said. “That’s not only bad for individuals but for Europe’s economy. When working people have money in their pocket they spend it in the real economy. The EU must no longer allow money to be siphoned off through financial speculation on people’s homes. “We urgently need to give the European economy a much-needed boost in demand by freezing rents, raising pay and increasing investment in social housing.” Separately, research by Ciarán Nugent for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions-supported Nevin Economic Research Institute, found the proportion of Irish 25-34-year-olds dependent on or living with their parents doubled between 2012 and 2024, reaching 42.2 per cent. The European average was 29.3 per cent. That is despite Ireland having the highest level of third-level education across the EU. Almost two-thirds of those dependent on their parents (64.9 per cent) are in full-time employment, up from 37.5 per cent in 2012.“Single adult households are almost non-existent for those under 30 in Ireland,” the author found, putting the figure here at just 1 per cent. In Norway, he noted, 35 per cent of adults under 30 live alone.“For those who do rent in the private sector in Ireland,” he said, “the deprivation rate (those unable to cover the cost of a minimum essential standard of living) is the fifth highest in the EU at almost one in four (23.5 per cent).”
