Ferry travel to/from UK & photo ID

DSLC

Hi,

My passport is expiring soon, and was just wondering if either of the following forms of photo ID are acceptable for a ferry journey home:
- proof of age card - issued by the department of justice, equality and law reform
- an expired CIE photo identity card

The cards are both about 8 years old, and - as I mentioned - the CIE card is expired, but the proof of age card has no expiry date.

I would also have my birth certificate and recently expired passport with me.

Any advice appreciated.

robinph

Probably won't get asked for any ID on leaving Ireland, they might on leaving the UK though.

You do not require any form of ID for entry between the UK and Ireland though, if your a national of either country, so it is just the ferry company that is putting the restrictions on normally. If they are getting particuarly nervous in the UK at the time though then you do sometimes encounter real police checking ID's but that is extremely rare.

In theory you should be fine with no ID, but just waiving the age card infront of them may be sufficient if they are asking, as long as you still look vaugely like the photo on it.

Ponster

Do you not have time to get a new passport? It only takes about 10 days for the Express service.

There are a couple of threads about this already and I believe that the answer was that you don't officially need a passport though if you're asked to produce ID (probably not in UK, probably yes coming back to Eire) then you'll be expected to produce a valid form of identification, i.e. a passport (though IMO you'll get away with an age card-thingy)

DSLC

robinph, ponster :
thanks for the replies. It largely agrees with what I thought already, but it's nice to have these things confirmed. I might have time to renew my passport anyway.

cheers