The Verdict: Clear Path
As a researcher with an Irish host institution, you can work under a hosting agreement with no employment permit. Ask the institution's research office to set up the agreement.
An accredited research organisation can host a non-EEA researcher with no permit, fee, labour market test or salary threshold. You need a contract of at least three months, and research must be the substantial majority of the role, around 70%.
Your immediate family can come with you for the agreement's duration and can work without permission of their own.
Once the agreement is in place, visa-required nationals apply for a long stay visa as a researcher, and you register with immigration after arriving. Time here counts towards citizenship: five years of residence in the last nine.