This report compares socio-economic inequalities relating to alcohol, nutrition and physical activity in Ireland with gradients for the European Union as a whole. To set this in context, life expectancy in Ireland is slightly greater than that in the EU as a whole for men and women – with a difference of about 1.7 years more for men, and the same as for the EU as a whole for women. Differences in healthy life expectancy are larger – around four years more than the EU figure for men and six years more for women. There are substantial income inequalities in Ireland by level of educational attainment.