Should I get an Irish licence

gabsdot

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I passed my test while living in the UK a few years ago and I have a UK licence. I now live permanently in Ireland. Should I get and Irish licence. My insurance company know I have a UK licence and have never said anything about it.
 
I don't think theres a legal requirement to change it and I'm not sure why you'd want to, the UK one never expires, the Irish one has to be renewed every (10?) years.
The insurance companies don't mind which one you have.

Not to mention the points.....
 
Thanks. I didn't think I needed to change it but someone I know said I should. I'll leave it for now
 
Definitely don't.

There was another thread on here a couple of months ago about it as well. I have a UK licence, and it doesn't expire until I'm seventy. I'm certainly not exchanging it.
 
If you live in this country permanently, you should have an Irish license...same as you should pay Irish Tax and road tax and abide by Irish law.
 
I have a UK driving licence, I currently live in Ireland, I don't know at this point in time if I intend to live here permanantly or return to the UK, I'll hang on to my licence though while I decide....

I do pay Irish tax and Irish road tax and even Irish insurance, none of the insurance companies I have insured my car with have ever advised me that my UK licence should be replaced with an Irish one, and neither did the Gardai on any of the (at least three) occasions that I was asked to produce it....
 
I had a UK driving license until penalty points system was introduced in Ireland there a few years ago. At that point my insurance co said that if I were to get an Irish license that they would lower my insurance premium - something to do with them not being able to verify whether or not you have any penalty points on a UK license. There's no real difference between the 2, although the UK one is a lot easier to carry in your wallet!!
 
Definitely don't.

There was another thread on here a couple of months ago about it as well. I have a UK licence, and it doesn't expire until I'm seventy. I'm certainly not exchanging it.


Also in relation to this, as far as I know, the picture on your UK licence has to be renewed every 10 years anyway, so no different to Irish one!!
 
My UK licence doesn't have a picture on it.....

Oh apologies, I thought they all did now. My UK licence was in 2 parts, paper copy which you left at home & credit card size which you carried with you - second one has your photo on it...
 
Please, no need to apologise, I have no idea what the new style UK licences look like and in fact I don't think I've ever seen one of the Irsh licences with photographs.
When I moved to the UK in the mid 80s, I had an Irish licence, I'm fairly sure I had to convert it but I can't recall the reason why. When I returned from the UK a few years ago it never really came up, every time I've been asked about my licence eg do I have a full Irsih licence I always say no I have a full English they all say thats fine. Recently when renewing my insurance severl companies actually asked me if I had a full Irish or Uk licence, and some even asked me if I had a full European.
During the year I was caught speeding and fined €80 and given two points, I phoned up to enquire what would happen next and was told by the Gardai that they couldn't be put on my licence but would be held on a database in case the law ever changed. I enquired whether or not I should declare then to my insurance company, the Garda I spoke to said he didn't really know. When my insurance came up for renewal I called them up to explain the situation and to honestly declare the points, they didn't really know what to do so contacted the insurance company who confirmed that as far as they were concerned I had no points on my licence, they also said that even if I had two points it wouldn't affect the premium. They also thanked me for my openess...
 
http://www.transport.ie/roads/licensing/faqs/index.asp?lang=ENG&loc=1838

from the dept of transport website, you can drive on a UK licence as long as it is valid!
I did see a post here recently where someone was told by a garda that if they are using a credit card sized Uk licence, they should have the paper counterfoil with them as well.
I know from renting cars abroad before that the require the paper aswell as the credit card sized UK licence before they will let you have the car,
 
I have been living in Ireland for 7+ years now, and only changed my licence over about 18 months ago.

Admittedly the insurance company had no issues with me keeping my UK(NI) Licence but they did tell me that I would get a discount on my premium if I changed it over since they could not get a history of me having zero points on my licence until it was transferred.

And since you can easily get your UK one issued again, I decided to change it over. I saved about €150/200 by doing so, so don't see why you would not want to change it over if you intend to stay in the country for any length of time.

As for the UK one, it does need renewed. All new ones are 10yr only. And I checked with DVLNI and they said if I ever want to get my UK one reissued its not a problem as I am on record as having been a full driver in NI.
 
Thanks for the link Rob30, I've never seen it written down anywhere before...

You would only have to get it changed to a ROI one should you obtain an endorsement(s) / penalty point(s) on it,.
 
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