基於社會福利國家的思維，愛爾蘭由1970年代以來，不僅持續擴充高等教育人口，更在1996年廢除本國學生的學費。受益於高等教育的大幅擴充，愛爾蘭在1990年代經濟發展快速，高科技產業傲視全球。本文探討愛爾蘭高等教育體制、財源結構、學費政策、相關助學配套措施，並針對上述發現，總結相關特色並對我國相關政策提出建議。本文歸結愛爾蘭學費政策之特色有四：一、反時代潮流，訂定免學費政策；二、單一主管機構，法令完善；三、獎助金來源多元，獲益對象也多元；四、建立相關資料庫，做為補助依據。2008年之後，受全球金融海嘯的影響，愛爾蘭成為歐元區最先面臨經濟衰退的經濟體。而其免學費的高等教育政策也因為高等教育人數的擴充以及經濟不景氣面臨重大考驗，其學費相關政策，值得進一步關注。

The economic development in Republic of Ireland has been greatly benefitted by the expansion of higher education. With the strong tradition of a social welfare state, its tuition fee policy has been reflected on this tradition. In 1995, the government announced the abolishment of tuition fee for its citizens as well as for EU residents. This paper examines the higher education system, the funding system, tuition fee policy and related student grant mechanism of Republic of Ireland in order to find out how the country tries hard to stick to its foundation value as a welfare state in the time of economic depression and continuous higher education expansion. Based on the findings, some recommendations are made for policy makers in Taiwan.