Driving Permit for Ireland

Ireland is one of the easier European countries to drive in on a foreign licence. An International Driving Permit is not required for most visitors: EU and EEA licences are fully recognised, and holders of a full, valid licence from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can drive in Ireland for up to 12 months from arrival. One quirk worth knowing — Ireland is one of the few EU states that is not a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. It operates under the older 1949 Geneva (and 1926 Paris) conventions, so if you do carry an IDP for Ireland, the 1949-convention version is the one that applies, and it is the version Ireland's own National Driver Licence Service issues to Irish drivers.

In practice, rental desks at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports rarely ask English-language licence holders for an IDP. Where a permit or certified translation genuinely matters is when your licence is not in English — drivers with Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Arabic-script licences should carry a 1949 IDP with the original licence, both for the rental counter and for Garda (police) checkpoints. Rental companies typically require the licence to have been held for one to two years, apply young-driver surcharges below 25, and — a famous Irish catch — many US credit-card damage-waiver programmes exclude Ireland, so most American renters end up buying the desk's insurance.

On the road itself, Ireland drives on the left, with the steering wheel on the right. Speed limits in the Republic are posted in km/h — 120 on motorways, 100 on national roads, 80 on regional and local roads and 50 in built-up areas — while Northern Ireland switches to mph. The drink-driving limit is 50mg per 100ml of blood (20mg for learner and novice drivers), and Dublin's M50 ring road uses a barrier-free toll that must be paid via eFlow by 8pm the following day. Expect narrow, stone-walled rural roads on scenic routes like the Ring of Kerry.