Ireland will pay you $90,000 to move to one of its remote coastal islands

Irish island.
(Image credit: Santiago Urquijo/Getty Images.)

The Irish just got a little luckier.

Ireland recently announced grants of up to 84,000 euros (about $92,000, as of June 26) for those who move to and settle on one of the country's 30 remote coastal islands.

According to CNBC, the islands aren't connected to the Irish mainland via bridge or causeway and are cut off daily because of the tide. Only about 3,000 people live there year-round.

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The government hopes the "Our Living Islands" program will help boost population levels in the area. "It's all about improving housing, better access to essential services in health and education, delivering high-speed broadband, and further developing our outdoor amenities, which will in turn increase tourism and support sustainable island communities," Heather Humphreys, the country's minister for rural and community development, told CNBC.

Those who choose to move into one of the islands' dilapidated properties, which must have been built before 1993 and vacant for at least two years, will receive the full 84,000 euros. That money must be spent on refurbishing the home.

The funding represents a "major effort to turn vacant or derelict buildings on islands into long-term homes," the government said, and also "builds on an existing scheme to encourage people to salvage deserted properties," even on the mainland, Fortune added.

At the moment, it is unclear whether those without visas to live and work in Ireland are eligible to participate in the offering, which begins July 1.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid is a staff writer at The Week and a graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Her passions include improv comedy, David Fincher films, and breakfast food. She lives in New York.