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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.

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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.

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  • That's also not really true. Both times I've flown in to Dublin from the UK, I've had to pass Irish passport control. It may be you don't actually need a passport to satisfy them, but they do routinley send you to passport control.
    – CMaster
    Commented Jul 30 at 15:41
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    @CMaster as far as I know (but I haven’t been in DUB in a very long while), all passengers are actually routed through passport control, including those arriving on domestic flights and flights from the CTA. Hence my advice in my answer to keep the boarding pass to show you are arriving from the CTA if you don’t have one of the more common forms of ID (passport or national ID card).
    – jcaron
    Commented Jul 30 at 15:47
  • Flying into Dublin, you will require UK identification such as a UK Driving License, UK Passport, etc. but each airline is different. For example Ryanair requires a Passport and will not allow you to board without it. On a side-note: I recently flew from London Luton to Belfast Intl. and was able to board the flight without showing ID and exit the airport without passport control. (Although I beleive this was a mistake by them while boarding by the airline) That airline didn't require a Passport for travel to Belfast even though it's on the Island of Ireland.
    – Dean Meehan
    Commented Jul 31 at 2:51
  • @CMaster I wonder if this is one of those technicality things, where they physically direct you though the gate labeled "Passport Control" but if you show up as a British/Irish citizen, suddenly it legally ceases to be an official passport control gate and becomes a "confirm you're a British/Irish citizen and welcome you to Ireland" gate instead.
    – R.M.
    Commented Jul 31 at 15:17
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    @DeanMeehan If it's an internal flight within the United Kingdom, why would you need a passport?
    – Andrew Leach
    Commented Aug 1 at 5:48
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It (partly) depends on the airline

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:

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/articles/12890412632593-What-travel-documents-are-valid-and-can-be-used-for-travel-on-Ryanair-flights

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

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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.

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  • Does a bus pass show that you are a citizen, or are they just using this to look you up in the citizen database?
    – Paŭlo Ebermann
    Commented Jul 30 at 23:26
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    @PaŭloEbermann a bus pass definitely doesn’t show you are a citizen. How they use that is a great mystery to me.
    – jcaron
    Commented Jul 31 at 9:26
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    @PaŭloEbermann A bus pass shows that you’re a resident, and they’re not bothered if a few UK residents who aren’t UK citizens slip through the net. If they absolutely required proof of citizenship, you would have to show a passport to prove that you didn’t need to show a passport, which would make a mockery of the CTA.
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jul 31 at 19:28
  • @MikeScott I don't know how bus passes work in the UK, but in Germany my public transport subscription certainly is not bound on being a resident. (The card proving it doesn't even have a photo, so it's only valid in connection with a valid photo ID. But others do have a photo.)
    – Paŭlo Ebermann
    Commented Jul 31 at 23:01
  • @MikeScott Like the Nordic Passport Union, CTA stems from a time when it was mostly obvious who was or wasn't British/Irish, hence the paradox
    – Crazydre
    Commented Aug 2 at 7:09
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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.

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    In actual practice a UK-issued driving licence, bus pass etc. will do - I've heard they do accent profiling among other things. Only if they specifically get reason to doubt the nationality would they ask for more, such as a passport or birth certificate.
    – Crazydre
    Commented Jul 29 at 18:34
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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.

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