Moving to Ireland with a pet: the hour matters
Dogs, cats and ferrets may come with you to Ireland if chip, vaccination and papers are in order. A dog also needs a tapeworm treatment within a window of a few days, and the paperwork depends on whether you set off from Britain or from the Continent.
For many families the dog is the family member talked about last in the move, and the one who ends up setting the timetable. Ireland lets pets from Britain and from the EU enter without quarantine and without a blood test. But the conditions are precise, and for a dog entry hangs on an entry with date and time on its papers. Miss it, and you stand at the port with an animal that cannot go any further as things are.
What follows applies to taking dogs, cats and ferrets with you privately, at most 5 animals per journey. Other animals, sales or larger numbers fall under rules of their own.
What changed in 2026
Since 22 April 2026 pet travel into and within the EU rests on a new legal basis: the European animal health law with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636. They replace the old pet travel regulation of 2013, which many leaflets still cite, the Irish Department of Agriculture’s own page among them. On substance, chip, vaccination, papers and, for a dog, the tapeworm treatment stay as they were.
One change matters most to a family moving from Britain. An EU pet passport may now only be issued to, and used by, owners whose main residence is in the EU. If you live in England, Scotland or Wales, your pet therefore travels to Ireland on an animal health certificate, not on a pet passport, even one issued in the EU. For a family moving from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands or Belgium nothing changes: older EU passports issued before the cut-off date stay valid, so you need no new one.
Chip, vaccination, papers
The order is compulsory. First the microchip to ISO standard 11785; if your pet has a different chip, bring your own reader. Then the rabies vaccination, at the earliest at 12 weeks old. A vaccination given before the chip does not count and has to be repeated.
After the first vaccination a waiting period of 21 days begins before the animal may enter; if the vaccine maker prescribes a longer one, that applies. If the booster is given in time, before the old vaccination runs out, there is no new waiting period. A puppy can therefore come to Ireland at a little over fifteen weeks at the earliest.
The travel document depends on where you live. A family living in the EU uses the EU pet passport. A family living in Great Britain uses an animal health certificate from the vet: according to GOV.UK it is valid for entry into the EU for 10 days from the date of issue, so it is issued shortly before you travel, and a new one is needed for each journey. From both Britain and the EU, no blood test for rabies antibodies is needed.
The tapeworm treatment
Ireland is one of the few countries free of the fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, and it means to stay that way. So every dog must be treated by a vet before entry with a product based on praziquantel, no earlier than 120 hours and no later than 24 hours before the planned arrival, that is between five days and one day beforehand. The vet records the treatment on the papers, with date, time, product, stamp and signature.
Count the window back from the arrival time of the ferry or flight, not from the day you set off. A ferry that leaves Cherbourg in the afternoon and docks in Rosslare the next morning shifts the window by almost a day. And build in some slack: if the ferry is moved and the window runs out, the dog needs a new treatment.
The only dogs exempt are those coming directly from Finland, Malta, Norway or Northern Ireland. A dog coming from Great Britain needs the treatment. Cats and ferrets need no tapeworm treatment.
| Point | Dog | Cat and ferret |
|---|---|---|
| Microchip before vaccination | yes | yes |
| Rabies vaccination from 12 weeks | yes | yes |
| Waiting period after the first vaccination | 21 days | 21 days |
| EU pet passport, or from Great Britain an animal health certificate | yes | yes |
| Tapeworm treatment | 24 to 120 hours before arrival | no |
| Rabies blood test, from the EU or Great Britain | no | no |
Source: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pet Travel (updated 5 August 2026), pet travel portal pettravel.gov.ie (EU and Great Britain pages), Brexit: Movement of pets (24 April 2026); Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636, eur-lex; GOV.UK, Bring your pet to Great Britain (21 October 2026) and Taking your pet dog, cat or ferret abroad. As of: retrieved 6 November 2026.
Arriving from Great Britain
For Ireland, Great Britain is a country outside the EU, and that shapes the route across the Irish Sea at two points:
- Only six places of entry. From Great Britain, pets may only enter Ireland through six travellers’ points of entry: Dublin Airport, Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort, Cork Airport, Port of Cork in Ringaskiddy, Shannon Airport. Small ports, marinas and airfields are not among them.
- Notice in advance and a check on arrival. You give notice of the animal beforehand through the Department of Agriculture’s portal, and on arrival there is a booked compliance check, free of charge for pets coming from Great Britain. You leave the port or airport only after it.
What the ferry company requires is its own business: whether the dog stays in the car, travels in a pet cabin or in a kennel on deck. These places are limited and are booked up early in holiday time. Book them together with the crossing, not afterwards. The same goes for flights: each airline decides whether and how it carries animals. On many ferries you may not go to the car while the ship is at sea; ask when you book when and how you can check on your animal.
Northern Ireland works differently from what many expect. The simplified rules of the Windsor Framework are only for pets resident in the UK that travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a declaration that they will not travel on into the EU. A family moving on to the Republic cannot use them: the pet enters at Belfast or Larne under the full EU rules, with the animal health certificate and, for a dog, a tapeworm treatment before entering Northern Ireland, and the papers are shown to DAERA on arrival. From Northern Ireland on into the Republic the dog then needs no further tapeworm treatment.
From the Continent, direct or through Britain
For a family coming from Scandinavia or the Low Countries, the simplest route with an animal is the ferry direct from mainland Europe, from France to Rosslare, Dublin or Cork. Arriving directly from the EU, you need no advance notice and no booked check. The Department of Agriculture carries out spot checks; if passport and tapeworm entry are in order, you drive off the ship like everyone else.
Anyone driving through England and Wales instead, the so-called landbridge, travels with the animal through a third country. Britain accepts the EU pet passport, requires an approved route and a tapeworm treatment of its own for dogs before entering Britain, as set out on GOV.UK. The onward leg to Ireland then follows the rules for arrivals from Great Britain above, and the tapeworm window applies to each entry separately: once before Britain, once before Ireland. A British vet can give the second treatment and enter it in the EU passport. Whether a single treatment covers both legs depends on the hours alone; on a quick transit it can fit, with a night on the road usually not.
For the journey itself the old rule of every long trip with an animal holds: get the dog or cat used to the carrier beforehand, feed lightly on travel day and keep water, lead and a familiar blanket to hand, not in the boot under the luggage. How the ferries run to the south-east and what the crossing with a car costs is set out under transport.
After you arrive
For dogs, Ireland adds two duties that cat owners do not have. Every dog needs a dog licence, for one year or for the dog’s lifetime, bought at the post office or online at licences.ie. And every dog must be microchipped and registered to its owner on an approved Irish database. The chip from home stays; it has to be registered anew, to your Irish address.
Bring more from home than the papers: the vaccination history, findings and X-rays, the names and doses of all medicines and, if your animal needs a special diet, a supply for the first weeks. An Irish vet who knows the history does not have to examine anything twice, and an animal that has just moved copes worse than usual with every change. Ask your current vet for a short written summary; many practices produce one with little fuss.
After that it is worth finding a vet nearby before you need one. Many rural practices treat small animals and farm animals alike and know the area, including the dog beaches where leads are required in summer.
And if you rent: pets are a handicap on the Irish rental market, because many landlords would rather not have them. How you can still succeed, and why buying outside Dublin is often the easier road, is set out under renting.
The timeline
Count back from the day and the hour of arrival:
- Several months before: check chip and vaccination record. If the rabies vaccination is still valid, have the booster before it runs out; if it has lapsed or was given before the chip, everything starts again with the waiting period of 21 days.
- When you book: secure a place for the animal on ferry or flight; from Great Britain, choose a crossing to one of the six points of entry and prepare the advance notice for Ireland.
- Within ten days before you travel, from Great Britain: the animal health certificate from the vet.
- Five days to one day before: tapeworm treatment at the vet, recorded with the time; on the landbridge, twice.
- On arrival day: papers to hand, and on arrival from Great Britain wait for the check.
- In the first weeks: dog licence, registering the chip in Ireland, a local vet.
What else comes up in the first weeks, from the car to broadband, is set out in our section on arriving.
Your timeline to the hour and the check of your pet’s passport come in the Pet relocation package Ireland, €700.
Ask someone who knows the crossing
Marc moved to Ireland with his wife and five children and lives there. In a consultation he works out the route for your animal with you, from the ferry to the first vet in Ireland.