Living in Ireland as a French National: Settling in Dublin, Cost of Living, Housing and Schooling

To enter Ireland, a French national presents a national identity card or a valid passport; France Diplomatie recommends the passport, in particular for cards issued between 2004 and 2013. The stay is free for three months. Beyond that, the right of residence assumes sufficient resources (France Diplomatie, updated 15/09/2026). Ireland exempts citizens of the European Union from any registration with the immigration services and does not issue them a residence card.

The PPS number (Personal Public Service Number) is the administrative key to daily life: seven digits followed by one or two letters, requested from the Department of Social Protection on presentation of proof of identity, proof of address and the reason for the application. It is used to register with the tax authority (Revenue) at the start of a job, to access social welfare benefits, to enrol in a school or university and to apply for a medical card or a Drugs Payment Scheme card (Citizens Information). An employer asks for the PPS number only when you start the job.

Useful steps in the first weeks: find housing, request the PPS, open a bank account, register with a general practitioner (GP) and, for consular life, register free of charge on the register of French nationals living abroad, online on service-public.fr (French embassy in Ireland). The first 90 days checklist details the order of the steps, and the country page on expat health insurance in Ireland presents the general framework.

Settling in Ireland offers a set of concrete advantages for a French national, along with a few points of attention to anticipate.

• Free access to employment: citizens of the European Economic Area work in Ireland without a work permit or visa (Citizens Information). The page on working in Ireland details the job market.
• An English-speaking environment: English is the language of daily life and work, which makes professional integration and local schooling easier.
• Rising wages: average weekly earnings reach €1,046.88 in the second quarter of 2026, up 3.9% over one year (CSO).
• A public hospital open to every ordinarily resident person: public hospital services are available free of charge or at reduced cost depending on the situation (Citizens Information).
• Housing: the main point of attention, with high rents and a very tight market (see the dedicated section below).
• The general practitioner: consultations remain payable by the patient without a medical card or GP visit card, with fees set freely (Citizens Information).
• Hospital waiting times: waiting for planned care leads some residents to complement the public system with private insurance, presented on the page on the Irish healthcare system.

The five main cities differ in size, job market and rent level. The populations below are those of the urban areas (“city and suburbs”) at the 2022 census (CSO); rents are the standardised average rents on new tenancies in the first quarter of 2026 (RTB).

• Dublin: the capital, about 1.26 million inhabitants in the urban area. Average rent on new tenancies of €2,301 a month in Dublin city, up 8.3% over one year. Within the county, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has the highest rent (€2,629) and South Dublin the lowest (€2,267). The capital is the seat of government departments and the country’s main employment hub.
• Cork: the country’s second city, about 222,500 inhabitants, in the south. Average rent of €1,903 a month, up 16.3% over one year. Cork University Hospital is one of the region’s main public hospitals.
• Galway: a city on the west coast, about 85,900 inhabitants. Average rent of €2,004 a month, which passed €2,000 for the first time in the first quarter of 2026, up 13.3% over one year in the city.
• Limerick: about 102,300 inhabitants, in the west of the country. Average rent of €1,921 a month, up 20.9% over one year: the sharpest rise among the five cities.
• Waterford: about 60,100 inhabitants, in the south-east. Average rent of €1,423 a month, the lowest of the five cities, up 10.7% over one year.

The choice depends first on the job you are aiming for and your housing budget. The counties neighbouring Dublin (Meath, Kildare, Wicklow) show an average rent of €1,806 a month for new tenancies (RTB).

The consumer price index rose 3.7% over one year in August 2026 (CSO), against 3.4% in July. Excluding energy and unprocessed food, the rise reaches 2.9%. The items rising the most are:

• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels: +8.5% over one year, driven by rents, mortgage interest, electricity and home heating oil (CSO, August 2026).
• Education services: +8.9%, linked to the rise in higher education fees applied since October 2025 (CSO).
• Transport: +5.4%, driven by fuel, air fares and car rental (CSO).

On the income side, average weekly earnings stand at €1,046.88 in the second quarter of 2026, an average hourly wage of €31.96 (CSO). Wages are therefore rising slightly faster than prices. Healthcare costs form a separate item in an expat’s budget, detailed on the page on the Irish healthcare system. The page on budgeting for health when living abroad helps you build this item into your moving budget.

The French embassy in Ireland speaks of a serious housing crisis: newcomers, students included, face significant difficulties finding housing, and rents exceed those in Paris, including for shared accommodation (French embassy, December 2025). The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), the regulator of the rental sector, publishes every quarter the rent index produced with the ESRI from registered tenancies.

• New tenancies: €1,839 a month on a national average in the first quarter of 2026, up 9.1% over one year (€1,686 a year earlier); €2,335 in Dublin, €1,806 in the rest of the Greater Dublin area and €1,432 outside that area (RTB).
• Existing tenancies: €1,513 a month on average, or €326 less than new tenancies, with a 4.2% rise over one year, the smallest since this index was created (RTB).
• Rent control rules: since 1 March 2026, revised rent control rules allow the rent to be reset to the market level between two tenants (RTB).

The embassy recommends allowing several weeks for the search, having solid financial guarantees and, if possible, a reference letter from a previous landlord. It also urges caution about fake listings: only sign and pay a deposit after visiting the property and meeting the landlord or the agency. The RTB website lets you check the registration of a tenancy from the address or postcode in the listing.

For a purchase, the median price of a home stands at €399,999 over the 12 months to July 2026; it ranges from €684,411 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to €200,000 in County Longford, and residential prices rose 5.5% over one year in July 2026 (CSO).

School is compulsory from 6 to 15, and most children attend playschools or Montessori classes from age 3. Primary school has six classes from age 4 or 5; most primary schools are parish schools subsidised by the State. Secondary school lasts five or six years: a first cycle of three years (Junior Certificate), an optional transition year, then a second cycle of two years ending with the Leaving Certificate, the equivalent of the baccalauréat (French embassy in Ireland).

The school timetable is about 25 hours of lessons a week, Monday to Friday, over 36 weeks from September to May, the Irish school year being the shortest in Europe. For the Leaving Certificate, students choose six subjects including English, Irish and mathematics; French is the most popular foreign language.

For French schooling, the embassy presents the Lycée Français International Samuel Beckett in Dublin among the schooling options, with information on French associations and enrolment procedures on its “Schooling” page. Families settling with children will find the framework for their health protection on the page on children’s cover abroad.

The climate is temperate oceanic. Ireland’s average annual temperature reaches 9.8 °C over the 1991-2020 period, 0.7 °C more than over the previous period, and average annual rainfall stands at 1,288 mm, up about 7% (Met Éireann). Sunshine hours have increased by about 5%, with May the sunniest month, followed by June. The west and north of the country record the largest rises in rainfall.

English is the language of daily life, administration and work. Irish, taught at school, is among the compulsory subjects of the Leaving Certificate (French embassy in Ireland).

Access to the public system rests on ordinary residence: a person who has lived in Ireland for at least a year, or who intends to live there for at least a year, comes under the Health Service Executive (HSE) with full eligibility (medical card, subject to income) or limited eligibility (Citizens Information). The HSE may ask for proof of accommodation, a bank statement, a recent bill or a tax document dated less than 12 months ago.

Private health insurance is optional and very widespread: it gives access to the private sector and complements the public system. The conditions for taking it out, including the date of joining relative to settling in, matter for adults aged 35 and over. The pages on the Irish healthcare system and healthcare reimbursement in Ireland detail each situation. Expavy helps you compare first-euro international contracts from the page on expat health insurance.