I have no idea what Mr Kearns' fee would be - he's a very affable man and would be happy to discuss your situation on the telephone. IMHO you would be wise to at least have your first return completed by a professional as they are aware of allowances, expenses etc. to which you may be entitled and may not know about. Revenue's IT70 while helpful, is a bit vague.
You will need an 'agent' (perhaps a family member, trusted friend or accountant) in Ireland according to this from [broken link removed]:
What if Rents are payable to a non-resident landlord?
If a landlord resides outside the country and rent is paid directly to him/her or to his/her bank account either in the State or abroad, tax must be deducted by the tenant at the standard rate of tax (currently 20%) from the gross rents payable.
Failure to deduct tax leaves the tenant liable for the tax that should have been deducted.
Example: Gross rent per mnth€ 1,000Deduct tax (1000 x 20%)
€ 200Pay to Landlord (1,000-200) € 800
The tenant must also give a
Form R185* to the landlord to show that the tax has been accounted for to Revenue.
Where an agent, resident in the State, is appointed by the non-resident landlord to manage the property and the agent is collecting the rents, the rents must be paid gross to the agent. The agent is then chargeable to tax on the rents as Collection Agent for the landlord and is required to submit an annual tax return and account for the tax due under Self Assessment.
Leaflet IT10 Guide to Self Assessment* provides more detailed information.
Note: The agent appointed need not be a professional person, i.e., it can be a family member or other person prepared to take on the responsibility and undertakes to make annual tax returns and account to Revenue for the tax due.
Choose your 'agent' carefully! We once used a letting agent to manage our property as we were living abroad and the company went into liquidation taking a few month's rent and a tax return, which we didn't even know they had received, with them.