Since 1991, the design of the standard Irish number plate has been based on European standard guidelines, with a blue vertical band to the left of the plate containing the twelve stars of the Flag of Europe, below which is the country identifier for Ireland: IRL.

The rules simply require legible black sans serif characters, no more than 70mm high and 36mm wide with a stroke width of 10mm, on a white reflective background.

The result is that a large variety of perfectly legal font styles may be seen, on either pressed aluminium or acrylic plates, both of which are allowed.

[5] A vehicle's number plate is determined when it is first registered, the county/city code is taken from the first owner's postal address.

Vehicles registered to the Irish Defence Forces have plates with silver letters on black background.

Diplomatic plates are very similar to civilian format, except for the small "CD" between the index mark code and serial number.

[8] Note: in the case of Counties Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford, where a vehicle has been first brought into use in another country prior to 1 January 2014 and is subsequently imported into and registered in Ireland, the codes L, LK, TS, TN, W, and WD as formerly applicable continue to be issued for such vehicles.

[9] Codes used from 1987 to 2013:[9] Ireland was the first country to introduce the now common blue European Union strip (comprising the European flag symbol and the country code of the member state) on the left-hand side of the number plate in 1991, following the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations statute of 1990 (S.I.

[10] A similar band was adopted by Portugal in 1992 and by Germany in 1994[11] and was standardised across the EU on 11 November 1998 by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98.

The codes allocated ran from IA to IZ, then from AI to WI, with the letters G, S, and V skipped as these were intended for Scotland.

In February 1952, a joint motor taxation authority was set up for Dublin City and county, and their codes were merged.

Initially, all number plates had been black with white or silver characters, but in 1969 the option of black-on-white at the front and black-on-red at the rear was introduced.

In February 1970, the Dublin joint authority exhausted all its three-letter combinations and thus began issuing "reversed" registrations, starting with the original two-letter codes (plus single-letter Z) in order of allocation.

Also in 1974, Cork followed Dublin's example of setting up a joint motor taxation authority for city and county, though their codes were not merged until August 1985.

The letter I in many combinations made these attractive for collectors, and indeed the Kilkenny issue VIP 1 fetched a record price at auction.

Normally these are the initial and final letter of the English-language name of the county (except where duplicates would result).

The full list was as follows:[17] Until 1991, all plates under this system consisted solely of black characters on white, on both front and rear.

However, in that year, the blue EU identifier and the official Irish language name of the county were added, the latter as a result of the controversy arising from using English as the basis, described by Conradh na Gaeilge, an organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide, as "a fiasco".

Their initial year number and county (i.e. A UK reg 1967 Ford Cortina (MHW 7E) would be registered as 67-D-1 (e.g. 67-D (or any county initial) 1) This would state the year of its first registration or manufacture outside the state but since 2011 these numbers have begun at 120000 which is not historical or authentic (e.g. 67-D-120001).

[citation needed] Volkswagen Beetle cars that were imported as knock-down kits from Mexico and assembled up to the mid-2000s were registered in Ireland on original Irish reg chassis having pre-1987 number plates.