Car insurance for long term visitor to Ireland

A 22 year old German colleague has arrived in Ireland for 2 years stay and wants car insurance.
Cheapest quote seems to be over €2,000 for a normal 1.4 litre engine
Can he go back to Germany, buy a right hand steering German reg.car, and drive it back to Ireland - he says he will be able to get equivalent insurance there for €750.

Can he live and work and drive here in Ireland quite legally?

im nearly sure for 2 years he will need local insurance.
plus if he is officially living here he will then need to VRT the car he is bringing with him.

2 years is not a visit, it is more of a residency
He will have to have owned the car for half a year to bring it to Ireland VRT-free
He will have to insure his car in Ireland. Shopping around might help. Quotes for comprehensive insurance vary significantly from one insurance company to another

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Thanks for the replies

However I cannot help thinking that every driver that comes into Ireland from europe with his car looking for work pays VRT and Irish Insurance Rates

I will investigate further for him.

Exemptions from paying VRT

There are different reliefs and exemptions from VRT. Even if you are not required to pay VRT, you must still register your vehicle when you come to Ireland (see 'Rules' below). The following groups are exempt from paying VRT:

• Visitors to Ireland who have owned their vehicles abroad for more than 6 months and who will be resident here temporarily
• People who have owned their vehicles abroad for more than 6 months and who are moving permanently to Ireland ==========More on http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...to-live-in-ireland/importing_car_into_ireland
• You can also contact your local VRO (Dublin ones are not easy to get through to)

[broken link removed]
(put "VRO" into the ''Site Search'' box)

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I am also not quite sure because he lives in Ireland and due to this I think he will need a local insurance. Actually a friend of mine moved to Germany in order to live there the next three years. After this period she will come back to the states but she also needed a [broken link removed].
I guess this is also true for Ireland because this is also a state within the EU like Germany.

What has US motor insurance got to do with motor insurance for citizens within the EU? I don't see the connection.