Leap Card - Dublin to Cork Irish Rail

Had a similar issue last week for a student whos 18 and has a 16-18 year old leap card , we just put in her sisters student number and bought online - no checking anywhere once you have a ticket

You can use the Student/Young adult to verify you are eligible for the student ticket, you can't pay for the fare using a leap card however

Irish rail updated the student fare to accomodate the Young Adult card:

ID Card Requirements

Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail Young Adult / Student Intercity Tickets are available to anyone in possession of one of the following ID types:

• Valid National and International Student ID Cards 
• Trinity College Dublin Digital Student ID Card 
• Young Adult Leap Card (19 - 23 years)
• TFI Student Leap Card
• International Student Identity Card (ISIC) and ISIC virtual app 

If she had none of those then you would have lost your day in court and ended up paying much more.

AFAIR IE have never accepted random student IDs, in my day it had to be an ISIC with additional CIE sticker on back which was an extra cost.

It isn't up to you to dictate what documents they accept in order to qualify for reduced rate fares.

Bus Eireann and most of the private operators do accept college IDs, when I was driving it was the case and it was completely impossible to determine if you were being shown a valid ID, far too many colleges all with different designs and formats.

Anyone asking for student tickets was asked for student IDs, as long as they showed me something, literally anything, they got a student ticket, even that low bar was too much for many of them to achieve.

Young Persons/Student Leap Card is the only show in town going forward - Citylink no longer takes anything else.

More rubbish ,

https://about.leapcard.ie/young-adult-and-student-card-launch

16 to 18 yrs get a Child Leap Card that also gives 50% off

Plus

• "The Young Adult (19-23) Leap Card is available to all 19 to 23 year olds right up to their 24th birthday.
• The Student Leap Card remains available to students in full-time education who are 24 years old and above. If you already have a Student Leap Card you’ll get the 50% reduction straight away without having to apply for a new Young Adult Leap Card (19-23). Just use your Student Leap Card as normal.