If you were doing the same work as a PAYE employee directly before you started as a self-employed consultant, then a bank might take your current income into account. Usually, they would take up to around 75% of your previous salary as sustainable income, with the rationale that you could return to PAYE employment on that salary level. However, this is done very much on a case by case basis, and they would look closely at the contract(s) that you currently have, and whether the sector is healthy. If you are only getting up and running and do not have contracts (or preferably a retainer/regular income) with a client(s), then there would be very little chance of having any income taken into account for you until you have two full years of personal tax returns to show. In this instance, you would automatically be considered as an adult dependant, which makes it almost impossible to qualify for any level of mortgage on an assessable household income of €40k. If all of this is the case, and if the priority is getting a mortgage, then PAYE employment may your only option for a few years.
Best Regards,
Dave Curry, Irish Mortgage Corporation
https://ie.linkedin.com/in/davecurryirl