Bringing a dog to Ireland on holiday

Bringing a dog to Ireland on holiday

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Posted Tue 10 Jun 2025 6:43 PM
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Hi
I would like to drive over from England, and potentially do a week in NI and a week in Ireland.
We have a dog, My question is - can we travel to NI without a pet passport, and then can we go to the Republic of Ireland also or do we need the EU pet passport thing?
Thank you

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Posted Wed 11 Jun 2025 10:22 AM
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Group: Community Member Last Active: Tue 17 Jun 2025 10:06 AM Visits: 3.2K
Hi Kristie!

It is great to hear you want to come visit us with your furry friend!

If you're driving from England to Northern Ireland with your dog, things have actually gotten easier from 4 June 2025. You don’t need an EU Pet Passport or an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) anymore. Instead, you'll need to make sure your dog is microchipped and apply for the new Northern Ireland Pet Travel Document. It’s free, lasts for your pet’s lifetime, and means you can bring your dog into NI without needing rabies vaccinations or tapeworm treatments, as long as you’re not continuing into the EU from there.

However, if you're planning to go from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland—even just for a few days—you will need to follow EU pet travel rules. That means your dog needs to be microchipped (which they already will be), vaccinated against rabies (at least 21 days before travel), and you’ll need an Animal Health Certificate issued by a vet no more than 10 days before entering the Republic. Tapeworm treatment isn’t required for this part of the journey, which is one less thing to worry about, but do check the rules again if you're planning to return to Great Britain afterwards. So in short, travel to Northern Ireland is fairly straightforward under the new rules, but crossing into the Republic means switching to full EU pet travel requirements.

Hope that helps!  For more information, have a look at this page on bringing your pet to the EU (including Ireland), or if you have any other questions, please ask, and I will do my best to answer! 

Cathaoir 

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