As a UK citizen travelling within the Common Travel Area and arriving by air at Dublin Airport on a flight from the UK, I understand I will be subject to a border check. While the Common Travel Area means I am not required to clear immigration, will I be required to present a passport to prove my British nationality?
I can board the aircraft with my intended airline using just my UK photo card driving licence, and I am curious whether I will be able to enter Ireland using this document.
The three answers prior to this one are all correct in terms of the specific question you asked about entering the Republic of Ireland once you have disembarked from an aircraft at Dublin Airport to satisfy the rules of the CTA.
However, you will only be able to board that aircraft in the first place if you also satisfy the rules of the airline. In certain cases, these are stricter. Ryanair, for example, are predictably restrictive:
When travelling with Ryanair, we generally accept 2 forms of ID:
- A valid passport;
- A valid National Identity Card.
We do not accept a driver's license or birth certificate for travel to any location
As the UK does not issue ID cards, if you are travelling with Ryanair you will need a valid (implying: not expired) passport.
In summary: check the airline's requirements in parallel with those of the CTA
CTA identification requirement are extremely lax.
The Aer Lingus website tells us:
Acceptable Identification
If you’re a citizen of Ireland and/or Britain, you need to carry some form of official photo identification in order to be able to fly with us.
Note: To travel between Ireland and Britain with photo identification other than a passport, you must be a citizen of either country.
The following forms of photo identification are acceptable once they are in date:
- Valid passport or Irish passport card
- Driver’s licence with photo
- International student card
- Government issued photo ID cards
- Health insurance cards with photo/social security cards with photo
- Bus pass with photo
- Work ID with photo
So your driver’s license is more than enough, given that even a bus pass will do!
Make sure you keep your boarding pass, as all incoming passengers are mixed up in Dublin, and the low requirements are only valid for flights from the CTA.
Leaving aside airline requirements, the official Irish government page says:
There are no routine passport controls in operation for Irish and UK citizens travelling between the 2 countries.
However, you must show identification to board a ferry or an airplane, and some airlines and sea carriers only accept a passport as valid identification. You may also be asked by an immigration officer to prove that you are a citizen of Ireland or the UK, so you should carry a passport with you. (Emphasis mine)
Note ‘should’, not ‘must’. As other answers state, you are not required to present a valid passport to prove you are British.
You don’t need a British passport to satisfy Irish entry requirements, but you do need to show you are British. You could show a combination of documents. A UK driving licence on its own does not prove you are British. (Many people of other nationalities have British driving licences). So you might be asked for additional documentation. Which might slow things down a bit. And of course without a passport you won’t be able to use the e-gates which they have in at least one of the Arrivals Halls at Dublin.
So not having a UK passport is perfectly legal but it may not lead to as swift an entry as if you had produced a passport. Very much your call though.
If Irish immigration didn't routinely accept it, you best believe no airline would either. So you'll be fine - you may be asked if you're in fact a citizen and arriving from the UK, but normally that will be it.
