There's a world of a difference between living like a student and owning property in a reasonable part of Dublin/London. a €45,000 salary (which is roughly $50k) is definitely a comfortable, non student lifestyle. It's not going to buy you a decent house in Dublin, but it's a comfortable lifestyle, and more than adequate.
€45,000 does sound a bit low. I lived on €40,000 (after taxes, rent was only 8-10% of the yearly income) in Croatia and lived like a king (travelling, restaurants, buying stuff without worrying about the price, massive amounts of good quality food).
Moving to any other major European city would require me to at least double the income to maintain my standards.
