Registration marks on number plates in Ireland issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where the components are:
Since 1991, the design of the standard Irish number plate has been based on European standard guidelines, with a blue band to the left of the plate containing the 12 stars of the European flag and the country identifier IRL. The rest of the plate has a white background with black characters. The current regulations are set out in the Vehicle Registration and Taxation (Amendment) Regulations, 1999 (S.I. No. 432 of 1999) and prescribe the format, dimensions and technical specifications of registration plates to be displayed on vehicles. They substitute the First Schedule of the Vehicle Registration and Taxation Regulations, 1992 (S.I. No. 318 of 1992) to allow additional characters to be displayed on the registration plate and to ensure that these are displayed in the correct position and proportion. The changes were necessary to cater for increases in the number of car registrations. Unlike legal requirements in most other European countries, a standard uniform character font is not required. The rules simply require legible black sans serif characters, no more than 70 mm high and 36 mm wide with a stroke width of 10 mm, on a white reflective background. The result is that a large variety of perfectly legal font styles may be seen, on either pressed aluminium or acrylic plates, both of which are allowed.[1] Despite the rather relaxed lack of a specified font, the hyphen between the lettering must lie between the minimum dimensions of 13mm x 10mm or the maximum dimension of 22mm x 10mm. Also required is the full Irish language name of the county which must be positioned above the identifier. Vehicle owners may be fined if the plate's format does not meet the requirements and will most certainly automatically fail government vehicle testing NCT which the vehicle is required to undergo on a two-yearly basis.
A vehicle's number plate is determined when it is first registered, the county code being taken from the first owner's postal address. Registration remains fixed on the one vehicle until it is de-registered (exported, destroyed, etc), and cannot be transferred to other vehicles.
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Sequence numbers may be reserved on completion of form VRT15A and payment of €1,000.
Thus, for example, in the year 2008, Lord Mayor Cllr. Paddy Bourke , the Lord Mayor of Dublin was entitled to receive the registration plate 08-D-1 on his official vehicle.
Imported used cars are registered based on year of first registration in their country of original registration rather than year of import.
Vehicles registered to the Irish Defence Forces have plates with silver letters on black background. These do not feature the Irish-language county name.
There are only two pre-1987 codes still issued in the Republic of Ireland.
Most county codes use the first and last letters of the county name, for example Sligo is SO. The exceptions are:
Tipperary North and Tipperary South were known as Tipperary North Riding and Tipperary South Riding respectively until 2002.
Code | County or City | Irish name |
---|---|---|
C | Cork | Corcaigh |
CE | Clare | An Clár |
CN | Cavan | An Cabhán |
CW | Carlow | Ceatharlach |
D | Dublin | Baile Átha Cliath |
DL | Donegal | Dún na nGall |
G | Galway | Gaillimh |
KE | Kildare | Cill Dara |
KK | Kilkenny | Cill Chainnigh |
KY | Kerry | Ciarraí |
L | Limerick City | Cathair Luimnigh |
LD | Longford | An Longfort |
LH | Louth | An Lú |
LK | County Limerick | Luimneach |
LM | Leitrim | Liatroim |
LS | Laois | Laois |
MH | Meath | An Mhí |
MN | Monaghan | Muineachán |
MO | Mayo | Maigh Eo |
OY | Offaly | Uíbh Fhailí |
RN | Roscommon | Ros Comáin |
SO | Sligo | Sligeach |
TN | Tipperary North | Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh |
TS | Tipperary South | Tiobraid Árann Theas |
W | Waterford City | Cathair Phort Láirge |
WD | County Waterford | Port Láirge |
WH | Westmeath | An Iarmhí |
WX | Wexford | Loch Garman |
WW | Wicklow | Cill Mhantáin |
Ireland first introduced the now common blue European Union strip (comprising the European flag symbol and the country code of the member state) on the left-hand side of the number plate in 1991, following the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations statute of 1990 (S.I. No. 287/1990).[3] A similar band was adopted by Portugal in 1991 and by Germany in 1994[4] and was standardised across the EU on 11 November 1998 by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998.
From 1903, the system used in Ireland was part of the original British system of identifiers. This was superseded in the Republic of Ireland on 1 January 1987.
A two-letter code containing the letter I was allocated to each administrative county in alphabetical order (the full list appears below), with the initial registration format being the code followed by a sequence number from 1 to 9999, as in Great Britain. The codes allocated ran from IA to IZ, then from AI to WI, with the letters G, S, and V skipped as these were intended for Scotland.[5] In 1921, shortly before the creation of the Irish Free State, Belfast and Dublin City completed their original marks and thus took the next available codes, XI and YI respectively, with Dublin City then taking ZI in 1927. After this, most other codes with Z as the first letter (again skipping those containing G, S and V) were allocated in alphabetical order, starting with single-letter Z - the only one-letter code used in Ireland - for County Dublin. (This does not include the ZZ code for temporary imports, introduced in 1925.)
In February 1952, a joint motor taxation authority was set up for Dublin City and county, and their codes were merged. Two years later, with all possible codes (at the time) allocated, a new format was introduced with a serial letter added before the code, and the sequence number running only to 999 (thus limiting the number of characters on a number plate to six). The Dublin joint authority was the first to adopt this format when it issued ARI 1 in May 1954, and each county followed suit once all its two-letter combinations had been issued. In the case of counties with more than one code, all the three-letter marks for the first allocated code would be issued, then all such marks for the second code, and so on (see the lists of series per county below).
G, S and V were not used as serial letters at first, while Z was not used before a code starting with that letter, so as to prevent any clashing with ZZ temporary registrations. Several other three-letter marks were not issued through oversight or because they were deemed offensive, and the single-letter Z code was left out of this format as a serial letter would have created a duplicate of an existing two-letter code, particularly one used in Northern Ireland.
Initially, all number plates had been black with white or silver characters, but in 1969 the option of black-on-white at the front and black-on-red at the rear was introduced.
In February 1970, the Dublin joint authority exhausted all its three-letter combinations and thus began issuing "reversed" registrations, starting with the original two-letter codes (plus single-letter Z) in order of allocation. These were followed from July 1974 onwards by the three-letter marks (1 ARI etc), issued in the same manner as for the forward versions. Again, other counties followed this example over time. Also in 1974, Cork followed Dublin's example of setting up a joint motor taxation authority for city and county, though their codes were not merged until August 1985.
In 1982, with Dublin and several other counties having exhausted all possible combinations of their original codes, it was decided to allocate the skipped codes containing G, S and V to these counties. In the cases of these codes, the forward three-letter combinations were issued first in the same manner as before, followed by the forward two-letter combinations.
Under this system, Irish vehicle registration marks could be transferred to Britain for re-registration on other vehicles, even after Irish independence, and even though they could not be re-used within Ireland. The letter I in many combinations made these attractive for collectors, and indeed the Kilkenny issue VIP 1 has fetched a record price at auction. Since the introduction of the current system in 1987, such exports have been impossible, even for old-format registrations, although those already exported may still be re-transferred.
The 1987 system allocated single-letter codes to the county boroughs (including those shared with counties) and two-letter codes to the other counties. Normally these are the initial and final letter of the English-language name of the county (except where duplicates would result). Initially, all plates under this system consisted solely of black characters on white, but in 1991 the blue EU identifier and the Irish-language name of the county were added, the latter as a result of the controversy arising from using English as the basis.
Vehicles first registered before 1987 are allowed to be re-registered using the current system, with a year number preceding 87 - for instance, a vehicle from 1964 re-registered in Meath would have 64-MH at the start of its registration.
The first codes were allocated in 1903 based on the alphabetical order of counties and county boroughs (cities) as they were named at the time. King's County and Queen's County were renamed Offaly and Laois respectively following independence, while Londonderry City is nowadays more usually incorrectly known as Derry City.
Counties and county boroughs in italics are in Northern Ireland and hence still use the 1903 system.
Codes with the letters G, S and V were reserved until the 1980s, when they were taken by counties that had exhausted all the combinations for their original codes.
letter | code (Ix) | County or city | code(xI) | County or city | code (Zx) | County or city |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | IA | Antrim | AI | Meath | ZA | Dublin City |
B | IB | Armagh | BI | Monaghan | ZB | Cork County |
C | IC | Carlow | CI | Laois (formerly Queen's County) | ZC | Dublin City |
D | ID | Cavan | DI | Roscommon | ZD | Dublin City |
E | IE | Clare | EI | Sligo | ZE | Dublin County |
F | IF | Cork County | FI | Tipperary North Riding | ZF | Cork City |
H | IH | Donegal | HI | Tipperary South Riding | ZH | Dublin City |
J | IJ | Down | JI | Tyrone | ZJ | Dublin City |
K | IK | Dublin County | KI | Waterford County | ZK | Cork County |
L | IL | Fermanagh | LI | Westmeath | ZL | Dublin City |
M | IM | Galway | MI | Wexford | ZM | Galway County |
N | IN | Kerry | NI | Wicklow | ZN | Meath |
O | IO | Kildare | OI | Belfast | ZO | Dublin City & County |
P | IP | Kilkenny | PI | Cork City | ZP | Donegal |
R | IR | Offaly (formerly King's County) | RI | Dublin City | ZR | Wexford |
T | IT | Leitrim | TI | Limerick City | ZT | Cork County |
U | IU | Limerick County | UI | Derry City | ZU | Dublin City & County |
W | IW | Derry | WI | Waterford City | ZW | Kildare |
X | IX | Longford | XI | Belfast City | ZX | Kerry |
Y | IY | Louth | YI | Dublin City | ZY | Louth |
Z | IZ | Mayo | ZI | Dublin City | ZZ | Temporary registrations |
Z | Dublin County | |||||
G | IG | Fermanagh (from 2004) | GI | Tipperary South Riding (from 1985) | ZG | Dublin City & County (from 1983) |
S | IS | Mayo (from 1983) | SI | Dublin City & County (from 1982) | ZS | Dublin City & County (from 1984) |
V | IV | Limerick (from 1982) | ZV | Dublin City & County (from 1985) / vehicles >30 years old |
Carlow CC: IC
Cavan CC: ID
Clare CC: IE
Cork CC: (in original issuing sequence) IF ZB ZK ZT
Cork City: (in original issuing sequence) PI ZF
Cork County & County Borough Joint Office: (in issuing sequence) reverse RZK-YZK, reverse AZF-FZF
Donegal CC: (in original issuing sequence) IH ZP
Dublin CC (until 1952): (in original issuing sequence) IK Z ZE
Dublin City (until 1952): (in original issuing sequence) RI YI ZI ZA ZC ZD ZH ZJ ZL
Dublin County & County Borough Joint Office (from February 1952): (in original issuing sequence) forward 2-letter sequences of ZO ZU; then forward 3-letter combinations of RI IK YI ZA ZC ZD ZE ZH ZI ZJ ZL ZO ZU; then reverse 2-letter sequences of RI IK YI Z ZA ZC ZD ZE ZH ZI ZJ ZL ZO ZU; then reverse 3-letter combinations of RI IK YI ZA ZC ZD ZE ZH ZI ZJ ZL ZO ZU; then forward 3-letter combinations of SI ZG ZS ZV; then reverse 2-letter sequences of SI ZG ZS.
International circulations:
Galway CC: (in original issuing sequence) IM ZM
Kerry CC: (in original issuing sequence) IN ZX
Kildare CC: (in original issuing sequence) IO ZW
Kilkenny CC: IP
Laoighis CC (County Council of Queens County renamed Laoighis (alternative spellings Laois and Leix) in June 1922): CI
Leitrim CC: IT
Limerick CC: IU then IV
Limerick City: TI
Longford CC: IX
Louth CC: (in original issuing sequence) IY ZY
Mayo CC: IZ then IS
Meath CC: (in original issuing sequence) AI ZN
Monaghan CC: BI
Offaly CC (County Council of Kings County, renamed Offaly in June 1922): IR
Roscommon CC: DI
Sligo CC: EI
Tipperary North Riding CC: FI
Tipperary South Riding CC: HI then GI
Waterford CC: KI
Waterford City: WI
Westmeath CC: LI
Wexford CC: (in original issuing sequence) MI ZR
Wicklow CC: NI