Ireland will pay you $90,000 to move to one of its remote coastal islands
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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Starbucks workers are planning their ‘biggest strike’ everThe Explainer The union said 92% of its members voted to strike
-
‘These wouldn’t be playgrounds for billionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all time‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
Spaniards seeing red over bullfightingUnder the Radar Shock resignation of top matador is latest blow in culture war over tradition that increasingly divides Spain
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
A guide to Budapest's healing thermal bathsThe Week Recommends There's a reason why it's called the City of Spas
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
