Government receives 5,700 queries after misleading viral posts about grant to move to islands

Ken Foxe

Nearly 5,700 people have contacted a government department believing an €80,000 reward was being offered to people willing to resettle on Irish islands.

The ‘Our Living Islands’ initiative continues to pop up in viral social media posts promising a new life here backed by a hefty government grant.

However, the scheme – intended for property renovation – does not include any terms that would allow for immigration or resettlement to this country.

Instead, a person must have residency entitlements and be willing to move permanently to one of around thirty islands, which are cut off by the tide and have a permanent year-round population.

The Department of Rural and Community Development has received a total of 5,677 queries about the plan, the overwhelming majority from abroad.

Most of them were received in 2023 and 2024, but inquiries continue to land in department inboxes as misleading posts circulate online.

In October, there were 22 people who expressed an interest from overseas, including citizens of Spain, Senegal, Syria, and Madagascar.

During July, the department received 73 separate queries – around a third of which came from Ethiopia.

In the summer of 2023, when the scheme was launched, inquiries were much higher, with at least 100 queries arriving every day early that July.

Of the 5,432 queries submitted to the department from June 2023 until May 2024, around 2,100 of them were from an unknown country of origin.

There were 579 emails from US citizens, 488 from Pakistan, and 391 from India.

Just 115 queries were received from Irish citizens, who were eligible to take part in the scheme with queries also arriving from the UK and EU.

Messages came from 140 different countries, including Tajikistan, Fiji, and Trinidad and Tobago, according to records released under FOI.

The department said the volume of queries had slowed significantly but that they were aware the scheme still circulates online in a misleading way.

One recent post on Instagram said: “Ireland will pay you €84,000 to move to a remote island,” along with emojis of the tricolour and shamrock.

The Department of Rural and Community Development said: “When the department first became aware of the confusion, we published an FAQ document on [our] website and also responded to many of the queries to refer them to the gov.ie site.

“It would appear that many of the queries related to a misunderstanding of the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, which is administered by local authorities.

“Information on the grant and number of applications etc is available from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.”