Brazilian Drivers in Ireland 2026: IDP Needed, Left Lanes

Is a Brazilian licence valid in Ireland? For up to 12 months, yes, but only when an International Driving Permit issued in Brazil travels with it. Brazil is not on Ireland’s list of recognised states, and licences from outside that list, the EU and the EEA count only with the permit. You cannot obtain it in Ireland, so it has to be in your bag when you land in Dublin.

The permit rule in plain terms

Ireland splits foreign licences into groups. EU and EEA licences form one; a short list of recognised states, including Australia, Canada, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan, forms another. Everyone else may drive as a visitor for up to a year if the licence is accompanied by an international permit from their own country. Brazil issues its permit under the 1968 Vienna Convention. Keep the licence, the permit and your passport together at the rental counter and in the glove box.

Stay beyond 12 months and a Brazilian licence cannot simply be swapped for an Irish one; you would go through the full licensing process.

Left instead of right

Brazil drives on the right; Ireland drives on the left. For many Brazilian visitors this is a first, and it produces the classic mistakes: pulling away on the wrong side, entering a roundabout the wrong way, or glancing the wrong direction at a junction. Roundabouts flow clockwise here and you give way to traffic already on them from the right. The driver sits on the right of the car. Spend your first hour in a car park or a quiet estate and say the lane out loud at each turn.

Limits that feel different

Local roads dropped to 60 km/h on 7 February 2025. Irish rural roads are often narrow, hedged and shared with tractors and cyclists, so even the posted figure can be too quick for the bend.

Alcohol and fines

Ireland allows 0.05, while Brazil’s Lei Seca enforces zero tolerance. The Irish rule is looser on paper, but the sensible thing for a visitor driving on the left is to keep to your stricter home standard.

Irish fines are fixed:

• Speeding, ordinary offences: EUR 160 plus 3 penalty points, or EUR 240 if paid after 28 days.
• Serious speeding: a court summons, with a fine up to EUR 1,000 and 5 points.
• Handheld phone: EUR 60 plus 3 points.
• No seatbelt: EUR 60 plus 3 points.
• Red light: EUR 80 plus 3 points.

Brazil prices the same offences in reais: BRL 293 and 5 points for a phone, BRL 195.23 for a missing seatbelt, BRL 130.16 to BRL 880 for speeding depending on the percentage over the limit. Ireland’s amounts are in euros and mean something very different in your budget.

Equipment and emergencies

Brazil’s records list a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit and a warning triangle as required. In Ireland a triangle, a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher are only recommended, so a rental may hold fewer items than you are used to.

In Ireland, 112 reaches police, fire and ambulance. Brazil uses 190 for police, 192 for an ambulance and 193 for the fire service, and none of those connect here.

For more detail see the Ireland driving guide. Check the full list of documents with the Driving Permit Checker, and use the Speeding Fine Calculator to size up a penalty.

Sources

• Citizens Information (Irish state information service), foreign driving licences in Ireland (recognised states list; other licences valid up to 12 months with an international driving permit from your country): citizensinformation.ie
• UN Treaty Collection, 1968 Convention on Road Traffic (Brazil a party): treaties.un.org