Major warning over €1,900 rent and VAT rate U-turns to transform rip-off Ireland from second most expensive in Europe. Ireland can go from the second most expensive country to live in to the most affordable, in a few easy steps, business leaders have claimed. He said “we’re the wrong side of each of them” in terms of doing what we can to tackle them.

Neil McDonnell, CEO of the Irish Small and Medium Enterpises (ISME) said the two biggest expenses people here have in 2024 are consumer prices and rent.

The ISME have outlined their key priorities for inclusion in the manifestos of political parties“Despite the Exchequer seemingly rolling in money, this is not being seen by the ordinary person. The Government should be offering incentives to spend. This VAT rate should have been looked at a long time ago.”

He added: “In the terms of housing, back in 2007 rent was costing about €400, €500 or €600. Now it’s at €1900 and salaries certainly haven’t tripled in that period of time.

“The Housing Agency’s Affordability Calculator suggests that spending less than 35 per cent to 39 per cent of disposable income is generally affordable for most households.

“Therefore, at the 39 per cent limit, a minimum wage of at least €56,092 (€25.66/hour) would be required to cover the average rent affordably.