Living street or slow zone?

This sign in Dublin, does it mark the beginning of a slow zone, or of a living street? Or both? Is it the same concept? Does anyone know why the living street sign is used on slow zones? Is it always present on the slow zone sign?

I don’t think a “slow zone” is really the same thing as a “living street”. My understanding is that a “living street” implies that pedestrians have at least equal right of way with vehicles. As far as I know this doesn’t exist as a general concept in Irish road traffic regulation. The slow zones I have seen generally have some traffic-calming features such as speed bumps, but still consist of a standard street surface for cars and separate raised pavements (sidewalks) for pedestrians, rather than any kind of shared space. As far as I recall the three elements of the “slow zone” sign always appear together.

Some further documentation in section 7.3.2.1 here: http://speedlimits.ie/data/documents/Guidelines-March-2015-Edition.pdf
And in this guidance to local authorities: http://speedlimits.ie/data/documents/Slow-Zone-Advice-Note_Final.pdf

I used to live in Ireland but now I only visit from time to time, so I might be missing something as these are quite recent developments. If you have further doubts you might want to try the talk.ie mailing list.

The sign is somewhat misguided, there are no proper living streets in the Republic of Ireland.

Even the concept of shared surface is poorly developed and many councils have been in denial about the concept.