Country guide · UK to Ireland
Plan your pet trip to Ireland.
A UK trip to Ireland with a dog or cat needs the same six-week runway of vet appointments and certificates as any EU destination, and a few entry requirements of Ireland's own that catch out owners who have travelled in the EU before.
Worth knowing first
On most EU trips the tapeworm treatment is a UK return requirement. Ireland reverses it. Dogs need a vet-given tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before arriving in Ireland, and none at all for the direct journey back, because Ireland is on Great Britain's exempt list. Read the tapeworm rule→
You cross on your driving licence; your dog crosses on an EU health certificate, an advance notice filed at least 24 hours ahead, and a compliance check at one of six approved entry points. How the AHC works→
Ireland restricts 11 types, including the German Shepherd, the Rottweiler, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which must be muzzled and on a short lead in public under the control of someone over 16. The XL Bully has been banned outright since October 2024 and cannot be brought in at all. Check your breed→
Why this corridor matters
For animals, Ireland is a full EU member and Great Britain is a third country, so the same Animal Health Certificate that gets a dog into France or Spain is what gets a dog into Dublin. The Common Travel Area does not come into it: the arrangement covers people, and pets were never part of it. You will not show your own passport at Dublin Port, but your pet's paperwork is checked in full.
For UK residents, the rules changed twice. First in 2021, when leaving the EU meant the Animal Health Certificate replaced the old pet passport for new trips. Then on 22 April 2026, even unexpired UK-issued EU pet passports stopped being accepted as travel documents. The AHC, issued within 10 days of each trip, is now the only route.
On top of the EU basics, Ireland adds three requirements of its own: a tapeworm treatment for dogs before arrival, an advance notice to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine at least 24 hours before you land, and a fixed list of ports and airports where pets are allowed in. Each one is checked when you arrive. The advice on this page is written for trips of up to six months, which is what the single Animal Health Certificate covers.
Routes in and out
This is the route almost everyone takes. Irish Ferries and Stena Line both run Holyhead to Dublin, the fastest crossing at around three and a quarter hours, and both serve Rosslare from Pembroke and Fishguard in about four. Dogs can stay in the vehicle, go into a booked kennel, or travel with you in a pet-friendly cabin on the ships that have them. Cabins and kennels are limited and free to book, which means they go early on summer sailings. Foot passengers can bring a pet on some services, in a rigid carrier.
No airline will carry your pet in the cabin into Ireland. Ryanair takes no animals other than assistance dogs, and Aer Lingus moves pets only as cargo, booked through IAG Cargo rather than added to your booking. On top of that, you have to be on the same flight as your pet, or send it with a named person and follow within five days, or the move is treated as a commercial import with a heavier paperwork set. Most owners take the ferry instead.
Cairnryan to Belfast is the shortest sea crossing to the island and the land border has no checkpoints, but the route is not open to pets travelling on to the Republic. Great Britain residents bring a dog into Northern Ireland on a free NI Pet Travel Document, and that document is not valid in Ireland or anywhere else in the EU. Ireland admits pets from Great Britain only through its approved ports and airports, so a car arriving over the land border has skipped the entry check it was supposed to make. Travel on the full certificate route and land at an approved point.
Common mistakes
- Giving the dog its tapeworm tablet for the trip home, the way France and Spain need, and arriving in Ireland without one; on this corridor the treatment is for entry.
- Forgetting the advance notice. It has to reach the Department at least 24 hours before you arrive, and it names the microchip, the sailing and the entry point.
- Assuming the Common Travel Area means no paperwork, and booking a vet three weeks out instead of six.
- Driving in through Northern Ireland on the NI Pet Travel Document, which does not carry across the border.
- Walking a German Shepherd or a Staffordshire Bull Terrier unmuzzled in Dublin because no muzzle is needed at home.
Corridor FAQ
Yes, on the way in. A vet has to give a praziquantel treatment 24 to 120 hours before you arrive in Ireland and record the date and time on the health certificate. It runs the opposite way to a trip to France or the Netherlands, where the treatment is only for the return to Britain. Coming home from Ireland, no treatment is needed: Ireland is on the exempt list with Northern Ireland, Finland, Malta, and Norway. Cats never need it.
Yes. Your dog needs a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination, an Animal Health Certificate issued by an Official Veterinarian in Great Britain within 10 days of arrival, and the tapeworm treatment. The Common Travel Area is an arrangement between people and governments, and pets were never part of it.
Through six approved points: Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, and Dublin Port, the Port of Cork at Ringaskiddy and Rosslare Europort. A compliance check happens on arrival and there is no charge for pets coming from Great Britain. Every mainstream Irish Sea sailing already lands at one of these, so in practice this only catches people trying to drive in through Northern Ireland.
It is a short online notification to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, submitted at least 24 hours before you arrive, giving the microchip number, your travel details and the point of entry. You file it through the Department's pet travel portal and follow anything it sends back by email before you set off.
No. Great Britain is a listed country for pet travel, so the certificate route applies and there is no antibody titre test and no three-month wait. Guidance written for unlisted countries describes a much longer process, and it does not apply to a dog leaving Britain.
Not for a stay under six months. The AHC issued before you left covers the return to Great Britain within that window. For a longer stay, an authorised Irish vet issues a GB Pet Health Certificate instead, and the rabies vaccination has to still be in date.