Most in Dublin can’t buy a one-bed home

Most individual wage earners in Ireland would not meet the criteria to apply for a mortgage for a one-bed apartment anywhere in Dublin, while a full-time minimum wage earner would have “little chance” of getting a mortgage for the same type of property in Cork, Galway, or Limerick cities.

That is according to research by an economic think-tank, the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) which examined rent and asking prices in relation to the wages of a selection of representative workers.

A separate study by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) claims that it would take people on an average income up to 270 years to earn what the chief executive of some companies make in one year.