Pet Passports and The Irish Sea - an unholy alliance

I would love to hear a clear answer on this too, friends cancelled a break in Eire this year becuase they have two dogs. I would love to visit again but do I need a rabies certificate for our dogs and will anyone be checking for it? I've looked on Defra but can't fathom it out. Can anyone from CC clarify this question?

I wish I could answer this but unfortunately I can only add to dilema!  We were told last year that we could not take our dog to Eire without a passport.....timescales were against us so our dog didn't get his much promised holiday.  Upon our return we set about getting all everything in order for our dog to travel on this years trip to France.  We were then informed that to get our dog back into the UK we were required to visit a vet in France 24 hours before departure for an examination and certificate.  We checked with Defra because surely our vet was wrong.....no Defra said this was correct........Where were we to find a vet in France 24 hours before our return when we would be travelling on motorways from the South to the North.......once again our dog has had to miss out as it just sounded to complicated........ We are happy to have a pet passport and have all the innoculations and micro-chips but finding a vet 24 hours before return when travelling around and in a country you don't know and don't speak the language of..........

Since posting this story, I've kept an ear to the ground in case it develops over time and a few snippets of useful information have come my way.

First of all, I have no experience of travel to continental europe with pets, but have heard the same complaint voiced by others about the logistics of finding a vet in a foreign country immediately prior to coming home in order to satisfy the pet passport requirements. I suppose that the alternative of having to leave your dog behind in kennels, or seeing it quarantined for anything between three weeks and 6 months makes the hassle of it worthwhile for some.

In respect of travel across the Irish Sea, the situation is (or was?) significantly different. EU law demands that pets on Irish Sea crossings have a pet passport with all that entails, but customs were not checking compliance. The recent word on the street (in Eire at least) suggested that customs were now taking more interest.

Enquiries made of DEFRA and its equivalent in Southern Ireland all generate the same response - pet passports are required - no mention of compliance checks. Another response given to a friend of mine last week was that compliance would be checked by Irish customs but not by UK customs. A third response to a letter written last week by a prominent dog show journalist in Ireland to Irish "DEFRA" was answered to the effect that nothing had changed - pet passports are required for travel across the Irish Sea but no-one would be checking for them.

I am inclined to believe the last answer because it comes in a written response from the relevant authority here in Eire. Added to which, FAQ's on the Stenaline and Irish Ferries websites say exactly the same. 

So, it would seem that the rumours which have been circulating may amount to nothing more than Chinese whispers at least so far as your average pet owner crossing the Irish Sea is concerned. Puppy farmers (and others) transporting more than a couple of pet dogs, cats or ferrets may however have cause to beware and I suspect that this is where compliance checks will begin and end which, when all's said and done, may be no bad thing.

I'll post again when I've made the return journey from Belfast to Cairnryan, provided I'm not shot at dawn somewhere en route!

Like others I would love to know. We went to ROI earlier this year and contacted Stena, DEFRA and the Irish version of Defra. We recieved 3 different answers!! Stena said they wouldnt check but we should have a passport per dog, DEFRA said we definitely needed one and Irish defra said no definitely not!! After a lot of emails we gave up, left the dogs at home and flew to Ireland.

Similar craziness between UK & Eire.  A week or so ago in Stranraer a check at one terminal oat the ferry port revealed that  to travel to Eire via Wales (Holyhead to Dublin) one needs as a human a passport. Travel from Stranraer to Belfast, drive statraight accoss the Irish boarder no passport needed and no checks. Similar question re pet passport and same answer applies. CRAZY.

Although one swallow doesn't make a summer, I can report, having made a return trip from my home in County Tipperary through Belfast Port to Cairnryan and back in my motorhome with my wife and four dogs, that although our vehicle was subjected to a superficial inspection on both legs of the journey (with the dogs barking like crazy at the high viz customs official, who seemed particularly unperturbed) no mention was made of pet passports, or human passports for that matter.

So, it would seem safe (as you would expect) to travel to the UK from Eire through Belfast and back without subjecting our dogs to unnecessary rabies vaccination.

I have heard no more reports from any other travellers in the meantime so that I cannot say whether the same lack of interest would be shown by customs to pets travelling directly to or from the UK and Eire rather than through Northern Ireland. I will keep listening and would very much like to hear what interest, if any, is shown to other members who make this journey with or without pet passports.

Last time I looked northern ireland was part of the uk,  passport would surely apply here as well.

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