Having a baby. In Ireland, this is mostly free, if you go through the state system.

To read the formal side, peppered with some personal blogs at the end regarding maternity in Ireland, you can read the links below.

Here the costs begin. You are not permitted to leave the hospital with the baby in your arms. You have to have an approved car seat to carry the baby in. The car seat doesn’t have to be new and come with a receipt though, so you can purchase one from many stores before the baby is born. Prices, as is the case in South Africa, varies vastly based on what you buy.

A few sites where you can have a look at what is available new and what the costs are listed below.

There are also 2nd hand sales on sites such as donedeal.ie and gumtree.ie as well, or you can join your local Freecycle for some great freebies.

(Don’t forget to view the classifieds in the menu bar on this website! We hope to get really busy there!)

Please check all the laws on car seats in Ireland on the link below.

Registering the birth of a child is free in Ireland. The baby is registered online and you don’t automatically receive a printout of the birth certificate. (Saying online does not mean you apply from your pc, it means they process it on the system and it is not a process for which they print out a hard copy record). You can request a hard copy and this will cost you between EUR15 and EUR20.00

In certain conditions a child born in Ireland to non Irish parents (or at least 1) or an Irish grandparent, the child may be able to get Irish citizenship.

From citizensinformaton.ie:

“A child born in the island of Ireland on or after 1 January 2005 is entitled to Irish citizenship if they have a British parent or a parent who is entitled to live in Northern Ireland or the Irish State without restriction on their residency. A child born in Ireland to a parent who has been granted refugee status is also automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.

Under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, children born of other foreign national parents in the island of Ireland on or after 1 January 2005 are not automatically entitled to Irish citizenship. The parent(s) must prove that they have a genuine link to Ireland. This will be evidenced by one parent having 3 out of the previous 4 years reckonable residence in the island of Ireland immediately before the birth of the child. On proof of a genuine link to Ireland their child will be entitled to Irish citizenship and they can apply for an Irish passport for their child”

NOTE: Currently, the above will include children born to non UK EU citizens, as they have a right too live in Northern Ireland under the current EU Treaty laws. This will however fall away on 31 December when the transition period is over, and the rule of 3 out of 4 years residency before the birth of the child will apply.

The cost of applying for your child’s first Irish passport are as follow:

Passport Online – €20, plus €5 postage fee

Passport Express – €30, plus An Post’s fee of €9.50.

Counter Service (in person at the Passport Office) – €45

These are the 2 most “available” brands of milk here. I’m not saying they are the most popular or the best, as each parent want to believe that’s exactly what they are giving, but, if you want to use a formula that is available freely and you won’t need to use an alternative if you run out while you are not at home, these are pretty safe bets.

The prices for these vary between €12 and €15 per tin.

Diapers usually run on Pampers 2 for €22 or similar. You don’t get Huggies here.

However, don’t let yourself stick to names you know when it comes to diapers. The shop brands (Mamia for Aldi, Rascal and Friend at Tesco etc) are all similar in quality and in some cases rated better, and cost a fraction. A pack of Mamia at Aldi will set you back just over €2 a pack and wipes (again, shop brands) will be less than €1.

Supermarket websites where you can compare the costs down below

Vaccines are free and all children under the age of 6 receive the GP card for children under 6 (as per budget 2022 this will be increased to include children aged 6 and 7), so with a couple of exceptions (such as medicine) your child’s medical costs are mostly covered by the state)

GP Under 6 card

One of the biggest expenses here in relation to children is the cost of childcare.

We recommend thinking of a budget of EUR5-EUR10 per hour per child. This will be roughly the rate depending on the type or care available where you live. You need to build this figure on: before school drop off, someone else dropping and collecting from school, aftercare facility, holidays, half-terms, teacher training days and the 2 months of summer holidays.

Many companies here allow their staff to work flexi time and there are more and more companies working on the work from home model.

However, while many parents choose to work different shifts in order to have 2 incomes and not have to pay for child care, it is not always possible.

“the law doesn’t give a minimum age for leaving children alone at home, but it’s against the law if it puts them at risk” Have a read below links on leaving your child alone at home.

For toddlers there is the ECCE scheme in place where parents receive 3 hours of creche per day for free and while there are certain costs involved with going to school, the actual school day is also free.

(This applies to any child who is resident in Ireland regardless of their nationality). See our article on Childcare links below

Well, yes. Sort of. Schooling is free-ish is more accurate.

There is a cost for insurance for instance. At the school my children attend, this is done through Allianz. It’s Eur 8 per child for 2020 and I am attaching a link here so you can see what it includes. I will not lie. I like it. It is great that I don’t need to worry about these things and it really is, in my opinion, very cheap. The cover applies 24hours a day, so even when your child is at home, they are covered by this plan.

Here is a spreadsheet with current costs parents have incurred during the last year

Unlike in SA, these are mostly not included in the “free” bit of schooling and in most cases don’t happen at the school.

These activities are available through private clubs and facilities.

In our experience, there is a fee per lesson and the fees vary depending on the activity and these costs vary drastically depending on which area you are in.

Horse riding is between €15 and €20 per lesson

Aikido around €5 per lesson

Boxing around €4 per lesson

Some schools they do offer certain lessons, such as Music lessons, at €10 per lesson once a week at school. Others such as tennis, which is €6 for 6 lessons or Swimming which is €60 for 6 lessons.

They also have other activities, where you may have someone who brings a pet farm to school or dress up for book week etc. These usually go at about €2 and goes towards fund raising at school.

We find it safe to include at least €10 per child (National school) per month.

In all of these there is a “Insurance fee” of between €25 and €40 per year that you pay in the beginning of the year/ season.

Some schools have school uniforms while others don’t. When it gets to the time of year where you need to look at buying school uniforms, you have a few options available.

There are outlets where you can buy the school uniform that is ready to go. The crest will be on where it needs to be and you pay for that.

These will give you an indication of costs for these down below

Another option is buying the clothes without the crests and having them crested. By us we pay €8 per crest.

Below are links to school uniform costs

Stay home with your kids for the 2 months of summer, pay for childcare or enrol in part-time summer camps. See below to links on Childcare costs

Summer camps are not taking a tent and spending a week in nature. It is a couple of hours a day (usually 4 – 6) and they are centered around specific interests and activities.

The costs range anywhere between €25 and €100 per camp. Most camps do give discount for more than one child per family.

Through the schooling system the children do have access to certain dentistry services. For instance, emergency dentistry is covered by the state and also by the insurance we covered earlier. There can be long waiting periods involved in this process and you may want to take your child to see a local dentist instead.

This link will give you an indication of the costs. The pricing is all pretty similar.