Health insurance is taken out by about 50% of the population in Ireland. probably another 10 to 20% have Medical Cards. In the UK only about 11% of the population have health insurance. There are caps on how much you have to pay on hospital stays and prescriptions. Consultations and many out patient treatments are free – so the main benefit people must get from Health Insurance is speed of appointment. But with the Purchase Treatment Fund – waiting lists are dropping in Ireland.
If you are taking out health insurance there are three providers – VHI , Vivas and Quinn Healthcare (formerly BUPA).
Compare these important points before you choose an insurer:

Always check the excess of the plan for both in patient and out patient cover.
Look at the student rates and what the cut off age is for a student.
Check the number of hospitals and treatment centres covered on your plan.
Look at the type of hospital your plan entitles you to and the type of bed in that hospital .
Ensure there is adequate cover for A&E abroad
Depending on your life stage, ensure there is adequate maternity cover for you.
If you choose a primary care plan, make sure your family can pool their benefits
If switching health insurer, there should be no loss in cover or no re-serving of waiting periods as long as you are switching to a comparable plan
Remember – you don’t have to wait until renewal to switch health insurer

If you want to borrow money – for buying a car or for a special holiday the lowest rates in Ireland at the moment are:

First Active : 6.6% APR = contact your local branch
Tesco 6.9% APR – tel 1850 520520
Halifax 7.2% APR Tel 1890 818283

First Active have an online account with a minimum deposit of just €1 and an interest rate of 5.22% AER variable on balances upto 15000 euro
(4.07% for balances between €15,001 – €1,000,000).
You can transfer money instantly to and from your First Active accounts.
Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly.
You are able to transfer money from any nominated current account

In Ireland – First Active and Ulster offer 9 months interest free credit on balance transfers and purchases for new credit card customers.

Halifax are the next best for introductory offers -with 0% on balance transfers for six months and 0% on purchases for same period. Afterwards, 9.5% on purchases.

Tesco offer 6 months interest free on balance transfers only.
Open an Tesco Credit Card account before the 24th of September 2007 and you will get a €40 Tesco Gift Card. Tesco’s card has a standard rate of 14.9% APR for purchases. You earn clubcard points on ALL purchases – wherever you make them

A handy tip for making a risk free investment – with a possible large return… you could use your 9 months interest free credit on purchases to buy a few thousand euros worth of prize bonds. Cash them in after 8 months – pay off the credit card and keep any winnings that you made during those 5 months. You would have to pay the minimum payment on the credit card (usually 5%) each month – but it is a nice way of using “free” money to get a chance of winning on the prize bonds. No risk at all.

The best interest rate for lum sum deposits in Ireland at the moment is with RaboDirect (online only). They are offerng 5% on the first 10000 euro – and 3.75% on anything over 10000. Minimum deposit is 1 euro – instant withdrawl.
If internet only banking doesn’t suit and you have a few thousand euro to put away for a while – then you could try First Active who will give you 4.57% on a minimum of 15000 euro deposit.

More details of deposit accounts best buys here

Halifax Ireland is offering 10% credit interest on balances up to 2,000 Euro but 0% afterwards. This is not an introductory offer – it applies for as long as you continue to lodge an agreed minimum amount into the account each month. (1500 euro)

There are no transaction fees.

EBS , Halifax and Anglo Irish have accounts for regular savers offering 7% interest .

The Anglo Irish Regular Saver – has a minimum monthly savings amount of €100 and a maximum of €1,000. You have to continue to save for 2 years with no withdrawls.

Halifax is also offering rates of 7%.
You just have to lodge between €10 and €750 into your account every month for at least 12 months AND make no more than two withdrawals during that time.
To get the full 7% you have to meet these conditions
(a) no more than two withdrawals have been made in that year from your account;
and
(b) all twelve monthly payments in the amounts set out in the application form have been made by you to your account in that year.

The minimum account opening deposit you must make to open your account is €10. The maximum account opening deposit to open your account must be less than or equal to the value of your monthly investment (up to a maximum of €750). The account opening deposit can be made by you in up to two lodgements, provided one of the lodgements is at least €10.

EBS also offer 7% interest on their Regular Savings account.
A variable interest rate of 3% over ECB rate applies until 01/04/2008. Thereafter a minimum of ECB will be available until 30/04/2010.
Lodgements may only be made by direct debit. Minimum monthly direct debit lodgement is €20. Maximum monthly direct debit lodgement is €1,000.
EBS do not mention restrictions on withdrawls or that the payments have to be fixed amounts.

In the battle for current account customers in Ireland – Permanent TSB have introduced a 10% interest offer on amounts up to Euro1,500 for the rest of the year. In effect, that means you get, at the very most, a bit over Euro120 if you open one this week.
A similar offer from AIB of 11% applies till August on sums of up to Euro1,500. – the max interest you would get from AIB is just over 40 Euro.
The PTSB interest rate drops back to 4% on balances from 2008 – which is better than nothng at all. The conditions are:
You must register with permanent tsb’s Internet Banking
You have to carry out 1 financial transaction on internet banking each quarter.
You need to lodge a minimum €1,500 into your Current Account each month.