Mobile Phone Charges in Ireland

Ireland is one of the biggest users of mobile phones in Europe. The average number of monthly call minutes per customer in Ireland is 247  - that is   35% above the EU average.
The average number  text messages sent is of around 250 a month . 

In Ireland Comreg say that 75% of all mobile voice minutes in Ireland  in 2011 were classified as mobile-to-mobile . About 11% of mobile voice minutes were to fixed line phones, while the remaining 13% were  international roaming or premium rate calls

How much will you have to pay if you are an average user?
Example :  If you use 250 call  minutes and send 250 text messages  a month  - the lowest price you will get  is just €150 a month at 48Months . For €20 a month they will give you UNLIMITED calls and texts to mobile phones in Ireland  and 20 minutes of calls to landlinesplus 3GB of data.

48Months are a new company using the O2 network  who are aiming at the 18 to 22 age group. They are online only and don't sell phones just give out free SIMs.

The next best option is from Tesco Mobile (billpay) - who for €20 a month will give you 300 minutes, 300 texts and 0.5Gb of data. But - if you go over those limits you will be hit with charges of 20c per minute and 10c per text message.

People who are on other billpay packages could be paying as much as €60 for the same amount of calls and texts (250 each). They have probably been stuck on the same package for years and don't realise thay could save as much as €600 a year by moving provider.

The average revenue generated from each customer by the mobile phone companies in Ireland was  €38.80 a month. This is 30% above the EU average.

The total annual revenue of the mobile phone companies in Ireland was about €1.6 Billion in 2011 - so maybe it's about time we tried to reduce the amount of money we hand over to them.

Note - although 48months seem to be saying their service is aimed at 18 to 22 year olds - there are no checks made on DOB

Work Permits no longer needed for Romanians or Bulgarians

On 17 July 2012 the Irish Government decided to end restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians accessing the Irish labour market with effect from 1 January 2012. This means that nationals of Romania and Bulgaria no longer need an employment permit to work in Ireland.

Popular Names for Baby Girls in Ireland

These are the Top Twenty most popular names for girls in Ireland  - born in 2011.  Emily was the most popular name for baby girls in 2011.


1 Emily
2 Emma
3 Grace
4 Lily
5 Sarah
6 Lucy
7 Ava
8 Chloe
9 Katie
10 Ella
11 Mia
12 Aoife
13 Caoimhe
14 Kate
15 Leah
15 Hannah
17 Anna
18 Saoirse
19 Ruby

These girls  names increased in popularity in Ireland between 2010 and 2011
Michaela  Muireann Sofia  Kayla  Eve Meabh

For girls where both parents were Irish nationals, Emma was the most popular name.
For babies with parents of UK nationanality - Ruby was the most popular girls name
Rebecca  ranked first for parents from the EU 15 (excluding Ireland and UK)

Julia was the most popular name for babies with parents from the  Accession states . Outside
of parents of EU nationality, Sarah was the name that ranked highest of baby
girls registered in Ireland.

Popular Irish Names for Boys

Jack was the most popular boys name for babies born in Ireland in 2011.
Jack has been the most popular boys name in Ireland since  2007

Of the 38,223 boys born in Ireland in 2011, 840 (2.2%)  of them were named Jack
James was the second most popular boys name.

The top five boys’ names in Ireland in 2011 were Jack, James, Sean, Daniel and Conor.  These  same names have been in  the top five since 2007.

New Boys Names - There were four new entries to the top 100 for Irish born boys:
Mason, Donnacha, Tommy and Zach

Ryan was the most popular name in  South Dublin, and counties Laois, Louth, Wicklow, Sligo, Cavan and Donegal.

Alex was the most popular boys name in Cork City and Jamie topped the rankings in County Monaghan.