The tax treatment of cars in Ireland is very different to the UK and I think there may be differences also in how extras are treated for tax purposes.
In general, we pay a far higher rate of tax on a new car and new cars are considerably more expensive than the UK as a result.
Historically, cars were cheaply spec'd for the Irish market to keep the price down but this now seems not to be the case.
I think the specs nowadays are there or thereabouts between Ireland and the UK, with some differences probably due to the ability to keep things within various tax bands in each jurisdiction.