The Consumer Price Index was 3.0 percent higher in March compared with 12 months earlier, Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) said in a statement.
The annual inflation rate stood at 2.2 percent in February.
Consumer prices rose 0.9 percent in March from February, the CSO added.
Ireland published its inflation data shortly before the European Central Bank (ECB) ramped up interest rates to fight mounting inflationary pressures in the 17-nation eurozone.
The ECB raised its main interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25 percent, in the first hike since July 2008. Prior to Thursday, the rate had stood at a record low 1.0 percent since May 2009.
Analysts have said the rate increase could hinder the bloc's indebted nations like Ireland and Portugal, which on Wednesday became the latest country to request a bailout by the European Union.
Ireland was rescued last year with a huge 85-billion-euro ($115-billion) rescue, which included a contribution of 67 billion euros from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. It also followed a bailout of Greece in May.
Reports say that Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan is this week seeking to lower the interest rate charged on Ireland's rescue, as EU finance ministers meets in Budapest.
Ireland's last government was kicked out by voters earlier this year amid deep-rooted public anger over the EU-IMF humiliating deal.
The new administration, headed by Prime Minister Enda Kenny, wants his euro partners to lower the average 5.8-percent interest it must pay for its rescue funding.
However, eurozone leaders have so far refused to give Dublin the same leeway as Greece, which saw a one-percentage-point interest rate cut and its repayment period extended last month.
Kenny has vowed to resist EU pressure to raise Ireland's cherished 12.5-percent corporation tax rate in return for easier terms on the rescue package.
The rate is considerably lower than other European countries, sparking accusations from EU leaders that it gives Ireland an unfair advantage and makes Dublin's problems worse because the government loses revenue.
Dublin counters that its rate is little different from others once concessions and exemptions are taken into account.
Ireland has been rocked by a collapse of its banking sector, causing the state to pump 46.3 billion euros into the battered industry since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008.
The Irish Central Bank last week ruled that four lenders needed to raise an extra 24 billion euros to be able to withstand another financial crisis.
The additional funds mean that Ireland's overall cost of bailing out the banks is set to top 70 billion euros.