Imports & Customs — Ireland
What travelers need to know about imports & customs in Ireland. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Imports & Customs in Ireland: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
At an Irish port or airport the green channel is a legal declaration, not a shortcut. Under the Customs Act 2015, electing the red channel is how you declare that you are carrying goods that are or may be dutiable, or are or may be prohibited or restricted — and walking out without declaring anything is deemed by the Act to be a declaration that you have none. The prohibited-and-restricted list draws on both Irish and EU law, but the duty to declare, the channel rule and the EUR 5,000 penalty are Irish. An officer can also require you to produce and unpack your baggage, and you must stay present while it is examined.
Failing to declare dutiable, prohibited or restricted goods, to answer a customs officer's questions, to produce and unpack baggage on request, or to remain present during the examination (Customs Act 2015, s.12(1)): an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine of EUR 5,000. Goods involved in an improper-importation offence are liable to forfeiture, and so is the conveyance they were found in or attached to (s.17). Where treble the estimated value of the goods exceeds EUR 1,900, an improper-importation offence under s.14 is tried on indictment rather than summarily (s.16).
§ Office of the Attorney General, Irish Statute Book — Customs Act 2015 (No. 18 of 2015), ss. 12, 16, 17 and 50; currency confirmed 2026-10-05 against the Law Reform Commission Revised Acts consolidation (updated to 1 August 2025): ss. 12, 16 and 17 carry no amendment markers and the EUR 5,000 and EUR 1,900 figures are unchanged, the only post-2015 changes being the insertion of new ss. 12A and 12BVerified Oct 5, 2026