# ‘It just absolutely baffles me’: How Ireland’s ‘single tax’ hurts at weddings as well as mortgages

An episode of [Better With Money](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1810993044), 16 Jun 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/67fe6575ad69959fc242080d/e/6a2c2fcd685069f99ff278d4/media.mp3

From supplements on hotel rooms to needing to save tens of thousands of euro on your own to buy a home, the costs of doing anything in Ireland - as a single adult - are hidden and varied. Irish Times columnist and author, Emer McLysaght, joins Aideen Finnegan and Conor Pope on this episode of Better with Money to discuss the many ways single people are penalised by the so-called "single tax". While Ireland's tax system doesn't explicitly "reward" married or cohabiting couples, it is more favourable for them. And that's before you consider the single person's financial burden of trying to save for a home at a time of record rents, energy prices and grocery bills. Would you go as far as refusing to put cash in an envelope at your friend's wedding in a bid to save money? Emer would. And she has, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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