In Ireland, commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland, vehicle registration plates (commonly known as "number plates" or "registration plates") are the visual indications of motor vehicle registration – officially termed "index marks" – which it has been mandatory since 1903 to display on most motor vehicles used on public roads in Ireland. The alphanumeric marks (or "registration numbers") themselves are issued by the local authority in which a vehicle is first registered.

Format

The current specification for number plates is the format YYY–CC–SSSSSS. Those issued from 1987 to 2012 had the format YY–CC–SSSSSS. The components are:

YYY/YY Explained

The YY format was used between 1987-2012. This format displayed the last two digits of the year the car was registered. For example, the 12,345th car registered in Dublin in 2001 would display 01-D-12345. The YYY format has been in use since 2013. This amends the original format to include the digits 1 or 2 after the year. These numbers are used depending on the time of year the vehicle is registered. Vehicles registered in the January-June period display a 1, while vehicles registered from July-December display a 2. Under this format, the 12,345th vehicle registered in Dublin in the second period of 2022 would display 222-D-12345.

Specifications

Since 1991, the design of the standard Irish number plate has been based on European standard guidelines, with a blue vertical band to the left of the plate containing the twelve stars of the Flag of Europe, below which is the country identifier for Ireland: IRL. The rest of the plate has a white background with black characters. There are usually two hyphens; between the year and county code, and between the county code and sequence number. Also required is the full Irish language name of the county/city which must be positioned above the identifier. The current regulations are set out in the Vehicle Registration and Taxation (Amendment) Regulations, 1999, as amended by the Vehicle Registration and Taxation (Amendment) Regulations 2012. These 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 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. A standard uniform character font is not required. The rules simply require legible black sans serif characters, no more than 70mm high and 36mm wide with a stroke width of 10mm, 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. Commonly used fonts include a condensed version of Mandatory, Arial and FE-Schrift. 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. Vehicle owners may be fined if the plate's format does not meet the requirements, and the vehicle will fail the mandatory periodic National Car Test. A vehicle's number plate is determined when it is first registered, the county/city code is taken from the first owner's postal address. Registration remains fixed on one vehicle until it is de-registered (exported, destroyed, etc.), and cannot be transferred to other vehicles.

Current implementation

Sequence numbers may be reserved for new vehicle registrations only on completion of form VRT15A and payment of €1,000. This reservation was withdrawn from used imported vehicles on first Irish registration in 2015. Thus, for example, in 2019, Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, was entitled to receive the registration plate 191-D-1 on his official vehicle. There are only two pre-1987 codes still issued in Ireland.

Special formats

Imported used cars are registered based on the year of first registration in their country of original registration rather than the year of import. Early in this system, each county used to have a continuous sequence of numbers for vehicles so if a new car registered on 31 December 2010 was 10 D 37456, then the next registered car from 2010 registered in 2011 would be 10 D 37457. This changed in late 2011 when each county (prior to 2010) had their next available sequence number increased. For example, 10-D-120006 would be the 6th import in Dublin of a car from 2010, as Dublin's re-registration band starts at 120000. Meath's starts at 15000. Vehicles registered to the Irish Defence Forces have plates with silver letters on black background. These do not feature the Irish-language county name. Trade plates have plates with white letters on a dark green background, but with the reverse style of the normal plates: the trader’s number for that year is displayed first, the county second, and the applicable year last. Diplomatic plates are very similar to civilian format, except for the small "CD" between the index mark code and serial number. Code CD is not always shown in Diplomatic plates.

Index mark codes

The city codes are a single letter, the initial letter of its English-language name. Most county codes use the first and last letters of the county's name. For example, Sligo is SO. The exceptions to this are: The codes are similar to the ISO 3166-2 codes for Irish counties. An exception is that the ISO code for Cork is IE-CO, since IE-C is used for the province of Connacht, and the ISO code for Tipperary is IE-TA (from the Irish name Tiobraid Árann).

Current index mark codes

Note: in the case of Counties Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford, where a vehicle has been first brought into use in another country prior to 1 January 2014 and is subsequently imported into and registered in Ireland, the codes L, LK, TS, TN, W, and WD as formerly applicable continue to be issued for such vehicles. This is to maintain the integrity of the numbering system in place for the years prior to 2014.

Former index mark codes

Codes used from 1987 to 2013:

EU standardised vehicle registration plates

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). A similar band was adopted by Portugal in 1992 and by Germany in 1994 and was standardised across the EU on 11 November 1998 by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98.

History

From 1903, the system used in Ireland was part of the original British system of identifiers. This was superseded in 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. 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 either 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 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). Until 1991, all plates under this system consisted solely of black characters on white, on both front and rear. However, in that year, the blue EU identifier and the official Irish language name of the county were added, the latter as a result of the controversy arising from using English as the basis, described by Conradh na Gaeilge, an organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide, as "a fiasco". Vehicles first registered outside the state before 1987 are allowed to be re-registered using only 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. In 2013, the year was changed to a 3-digit year with the third digit being 1 for January to June and 2 for July to December, for example, 131 for January–June 2013 and 132 for July–December 2013. The decision to change the year was based partly on superstition about an unlucky '13' registration, but also to boost sales in the second half of the year.

Pre-1987 mark codes

The first codes were allocated in 1903, when all of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom. The codes were 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 the independence of most of Ireland as the Irish Free State. Counties and county boroughs in italics are in Northern Ireland and 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.

Series per county 1903–1986

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 and County Borough Joint Office: (in issuing sequence) reverse 3-letter sequences of (R)ZK ZF 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 and 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 forward 2-letter sequences of SI ZG ZS ZV. International circulations (from April 1925): ZZ 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 VIP1 issued in 1971 was later transferred to the UK licensing system where it is currently issued. Laoighis CC ( renamed Laoighis (alternative spellings Laois and Leix) in June 1922): CI Leitrim CC: IT Limerick CC: IU IV Limerick City: TI Longford CC: IX Louth CC: (in original issuing sequence) IY ZY Mayo CC: IZ 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 GI Waterford CC: KI Waterford City: WI Westmeath CC: LI Wexford CC: (in original issuing sequence) MI ZR Wicklow CC: NI On 1 January 1987, a completely new registration plate system was introduced for new vehicles. Vehicles older than 1987 imported into Ireland from 1987 were not given age-related numbers from the old system but were included in the new system. Their initial year number and county (i.e. A UK reg 1967 Ford Cortina (MHW 7E) would be registered as 67-D-1 (e.g. 67-D (or any county initial) 1) This would state the year of its first registration or manufacture outside the state but since 2011 these numbers have begun at 120000 which is not historical or authentic (e.g. 67-D-120001). A 1986 Opel with right-hand-drive registered in Ireland would have a pre-1987 style registration plate, the same model car with left-hand-drive imported from the rest of Europe or a Vauxhall from England, Scotland or Wales would have new 86 registration plate. Volkswagen Beetle cars that were imported as knock-down kits from Mexico and assembled up to the mid-2000s were registered in Ireland on original Irish reg chassis having pre-1987 number plates. Pre-1987 registration plates are few and far between nowadays and are mostly found at vintage car shows.