Is the life cover on you or on the person paying the maintence? Arguably, you need both.
If you worked in the UK, have you looked at topping up your UK State pension?
Non-uk residents can pay voluntary class 3 national insurance contributions to top up their basic state pension entitlement in addition to an Irish contributory state pension.
If you are still in public sector in Ireland you should look into added years in Ireland.
Then you will have good protection, an emergency fund, a college fund, good retirement provision and several presumably debt free properties. You are in good financial shape and have the capacity for investment risk over the longer term.
It would certainly make sense to invest in equites given your overall financial capacity to do so. Whether you have the willingness to do so is another matter.