I really don't think that five million dollars are something that is enough for a cricket board to get every year. That money is obviously going to mean nothing if they are not able to get enough matches to play for them to gain relevant experience. The bigger teams are likely to give Ireland chances to play against them.
It is also understandable why they don't want to give them too many chances. That's because the matches are almost always going to be one-sided. Ireland has shown some impressive performances against India recently. But they were not able to win. Afghanistan is in a lot of trouble right now. Maybe they will be able to prevail against Afghanistan. But don't expect it to be a series win.