Get Paid to Move to Ireland? The Truth About Our Living Islands (2026)

No, you cannot get paid to move to Ireland — but there is a real grant of up to €84,000, and it is widely misunderstood. The “Our Living Islands” scheme offers a 20% uplift on Ireland’s Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant for homes on 23 offshore islands: up to €60,000 for a vacant property and €84,000 for a derelict one. The catch the viral headlines leave out: it is a renovation grant, not relocation cash — you must already own or be buying a qualifying old, empty property, spend the money first and claim it back, live there as your main home, and — crucially if you’re not Irish or EU — the grant gives you no right to live in Ireland at all.

Quick answers:

• Is it free money to move? No. It reimburses renovation costs on a property you buy, up to a cap. You fund the purchase and the works yourself.
• How much? Up to €60,000 (vacant) or €84,000 (derelict) on the islands — 20% more than the mainland €50,000 / €70,000.
• Where? ~23 designated offshore islands (Arranmore, Bere Island, Clare Island, Inishbofin, Heir Island and others).
• Do I need a visa? If you’re non-EU, yes — the grant is not immigration permission. See moving to Ireland from the USA and work permits.
• Is it actually happening? Yes, but uptake is tiny — only 29 applications across all islands as of early 2025.

What “Our Living Islands” actually is

Our Living Islands is the Irish government’s national islands policy, launched in 2023 and running to 2033, aimed at keeping the offshore islands as living, working communities rather than holiday-home shells. It contains 80 actions across transport, housing, jobs and services.

The part that went viral is one housing measure inside it: an island uplift on the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant — part of the government’s Croí Cónaithe vacant-homes fund. That grant already exists nationwide to bring empty and derelict homes back into use. On the designated islands, the maximum amounts are simply 20% higher to reflect the cost of building somewhere a ferry has to deliver every bag of cement.

It is not a “move to a free island” programme. It is a top-up on an existing renovation grant.

How much you can actually get

Property condition	Mainland grant	Island grant (Our Living Islands)
Vacant (empty 2+ years)	up to €50,000	up to €60,000
Derelict (structurally unsound)	up to €70,000	up to €84,000

Two things to hold onto:

• It’s a reimbursement, not a cheque on arrival. You pay the builders, the work is inspected, then the grant is paid up to the cap. You need the cash flow to fund the whole job first.
• It’s a cap, not a budget. A full restoration of a derelict island cottage can run well past the €84,000 ceiling. The grant offsets the cost — it rarely covers it.

The catch nobody puts in the headline

The pull is real — a stone cottage near the Atlantic, the State chipping in to do it up. Here’s where the “get paid to move to Ireland” story falls apart for most people who search for it:

1. You have to buy the property. The grant pays for renovation, not purchase. You need the capital to buy an old, empty island house before any grant exists.
2. It gives you no right to live in Ireland. The grant is tied to the building, not to you. If you’re a US, Canadian, Australian or other non-EU citizen, you still need a visa or residence permission — a work permit, Stamp 0 as a self-sufficient retiree, or citizenship by descent — exactly as you would to live anywhere else in Ireland. No grant changes that.
3. It must be your home. When the work is done you must live in it as your principal private residence, or rent it long-term with the tenancy registered with the RTB. No holiday homes, no Airbnb. Sell or stop living in it too soon and the grant is clawed back.
4. The property must genuinely qualify. It must have been vacant for at least two years and built before 2008. Not every cheap island cottage qualifies.
5. Island life is remote by design. Ferry-dependent access, limited healthcare and schools, scarce local employment, winter isolation. It suits remote workers and retirees who can fund their own life there — not someone hoping the island will provide a living.

The reality check: as of early 2025, the Irish Times reported that just 29 applications had been made for the island grant across every island combined. The demand in the headlines has not turned into people actually moving.

Who this realistically works for

The grant is a genuine opportunity — for the right person:

• You already have the right to live in Ireland (Irish/EU citizen, or a settled non-EU resident), or you’re sorting that separately.
• You have capital up front to buy a property and fund the renovation before the grant is reimbursed.
• You can work remotely or are retired with income that doesn’t depend on the local island economy.
• You actually want a remote, small-community life — not a cheap shortcut into Ireland.

If that’s not you, the honest route into Ireland is the ordinary one: a job and a work permit on the mainland. Start with moving to Ireland from the USA or our cost of living guide for what life here actually costs.

Which islands qualify

23 inhabited offshore islands qualify — of around 30 offshore islands in total, the 23 that are permanently inhabited and reached only by boat. They include Arranmore and Tory (Toraigh) in Donegal, Clare Island and Inishturk in Mayo, Inishbofin and the Aran Islands in Galway, and Bere Island, Dursey and Heir Island in Cork. The qualifying list is defined by the Department of Rural and Community Development — confirm a specific island (and that a specific property qualifies) by emailing oileain@drcdg.gov.ie before you commit to anything.

How to apply

1. Check the property qualifies — on a designated island, vacant 2+ years, built before 2008.
2. Own it or be buying it. Applications are from named owners only — not companies.
3. Get your paperwork in order — tax clearance from Revenue, Local Property Tax up to date, proof of vacancy.
4. Apply to the local authority that covers the island, using the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant form on gov.ie. A qualified assessor reviews the works.
5. Get approval before starting work. The grant is paid on completion, after inspection — not in advance.

Is it worth it?

If you have the residency, the capital and a real appetite for island life, the €60,000–€84,000 uplift is a meaningful subsidy on restoring a home most people would never take on. For everyone typing “move to Ireland and get paid,” it isn’t the scheme you’re hoping for — there’s no cheque for showing up, and no shortcut around needing the right to live here.

If your real question is how do I move to Ireland at all, start here instead: moving to Ireland from the USA, work permits and visas, and the Critical Skills permit.

Verification

Figures and rules verified against the Our Living Islands national policy (Department of Rural and Community Development), the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant on gov.ie, and Citizens Information on 8 June 2026. Island grant amounts (€60,000 vacant / €84,000 derelict, a 20% uplift on mainland rates) and the 2023–2033 policy term are from gov.ie. The application figure (29 applications across all islands as of early 2025) is from the Irish Times. The core clarification — that this is a property-refurbishment grant, not a payment to relocate — has also been independently fact-checked by PolitiFact. Grant rules, the list of qualifying islands and the build-date/vacancy conditions are reviewed periodically — confirm the current position with the local authority or oileain@drcdg.gov.ie before acting. This is general information, not legal, financial or immigration advice.