For those moving to Ireland

[leorl]

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Congrats on your acceptance(s) and welcome to Dublin! If you're making the big move, this thread is for those of us leaving to offer words of wisdom and pass on some more practical items to you (ie. buy and sell lists). Just download the lists and pm if anything is of interest to you. These might save you some hassle anyway when you first move here!

 

[goose121a]

Not so much interested in buying the car you list as much as your experience with licencing etc.

Did you get an Irish lic?

Or just treat each school year you arrived in Dublin as a "new" 12-month period where you could use your Cdn/US lic for that period?

Per usual, Irish official websites brilliantly vague with the requirements..... thanks

 

[dchaos]

Per usual, Irish official websites brilliantly vague with the requirements..... thanks

Check out www.citizensinformation.ie , an excellently clear website with information on everything you are likely to want to know about when you move over here.

They have the following to say about your question:

If you are not from any of the countries with whom there is a reciprocal agreement, (for example, if you are from Canada, the United States or New Zealand), and you hold a national driving licence or an international driving permit* from your own country, you may drive in Ireland for the duration of your temporary visit (up to 12 months).

If your stay in Ireland will be more than 12 months and you are not from one of the listed recognised countries/States, you can apply for a driving licence in Ireland. You must first you must complete a driver theory test, apply for a learner driving permit and complete your driving test in Ireland. If you pass your driving test, you will be issued with a full driving licence for use in Ireland.




*An 'international driving permit' means a valid and property completed international driving permit issued to you by the driving licencing authority of the State in which you normally reside.

So, if you leave for the summer etc., you will start a new temporary visit, lasting less than 12 months, and your home driving licence will continue to be acceptable.

 

[pattycanuck]

Not that the government checks that an actual licence is associated with your car ...

I owned a little 1.3L Mazda and had a Canadian licence. I got insurance through AXA as my licence was deemed as a "provisional equivalent". Bought the car at EUR500, but paid EUR1200 in insurance per year. The thing is that I had my insurance with AXA for 2 years ... and this is despite registering the car yearly for road tax purposes as well (ie still not checking on the time restriction associated with my Canadian licence).

Easy to get away with 😀

 

[goose121a]

Thanks for replies;

dchaos: thanks, yup, had seen that site since & we spent the walk to class today debating the potential interpretation of the 12 month temportary visit. One point of view was that b/c we actually reside in Ire for >185 days per year we could actually be classified as "resident" in Ireland. Other side, was per the website and a literal interpretation of getting a "new" 12-months each entry

At the end of the day we were nearly all in agreement that per, pattycanuck's experience, that all things being Irish it could be done. 😀

Unfortuantely as of Oct 2007 they are effectively doing away with "Provisional lic" in favour of "learner's permits", wonder how this may affect insurance companies, will ring to find out.

pattcanuck: offhand, how much was road tax for the little Mazda?

 

[Unch]

Have been driving on my Canadian license for 3 years now. Got a provisional (easy 5 min computer test) but then my wife and I both failed the driver's test (after 20 years each of accident-free driving). The driver's test here is truly absurd with 50% fail rate. We're just going to limp through the last two years on our provisionals. Seems to depend a lot on whether an insurance company will cover you and how many questions they ask. Seems like they're just glad to get our money and if we get stopped by Gardi, we'll just play stupid.

 

[leorl]

Definitely do not get an Irish license. Use your existing Canadian or American one. They're starting to get a little stricter but this won't affect you...it's mainly those with eastern european licenses that they will be stringent with (lots of accidents).

As far as insurance, I used GEICO. I don't think Canadians are eligible for it as it's an american company... Check out www.geico.com and click on the overseas insurance tab. If you have a 5 year no-crash certification from your previous insurance company... it's very cheap. Mine was like $450.00 USD for the whole year.... vs. 1000+ euro.

 

[leorl]

I think all overseas licenses are considered provisional, and you're not supposed to drive on the motorways and stuff like that. But to be perfectly honest...no one checks. And you can play dumb if you get caught. Also, really...no one is going to check that you've been driving for more than 12 months. How are they going to know. many in my class bought cars in 3rd year...and obviously were driving for more than 12 months using their us/canadian licenses. There's no enforcement and it's a stupid rule anyway.

 

[leorl]

Road tax is relatively cheap. The car I have is a 1.6 . It's costs 120 euro for three months, 237 for 6 months and 428 for 12 months. Ok I guess it isn't that cheap but it's not that bad.

 

[goose121a]

I'm sold on playing dumb, thanks all.

 

[med2UCC]

I'm sold on playing dumb, thanks all.

And as for getting more strict as of October 2007, they had to scrap that plan and are now planning to be tougher as of July-apparently they couldn't test all the provisional drivers in time for the new rules to come into effect. The current rule is that if you fail the driver's test once you have a provisional license which essentially lets you do all the things licensed drivers do, except drive on the motorways (but no one checks because there is one national police force and they are too busy dealing wtih the drug crimes in Limerick). There are literally thousands of Irish drivers who have been driving for years without passing the test. I know one woman who drove for 19 years (failed the test 13 times) before finally passing the test. And the Irish wonder why we laugh...
Cheers,
M

 

[Dr Noodle]

If you have dark skin, forget playing dumb, you're screwed either way. You're better off driving perfectly and keeping a copy of the rules of the road in your car so you can flash it in some dumb guard's face who barely knows the rules themselves.

 

[leorl]

hmm...regardless of what color skin you have...and what sort of gardai you encounter ... being civil and polite always goes a long way . It's worked for me...