Vehicle registration plates of the Republic of Ireland Vehicle registration plates of the Republic of Ireland In the Republic of Ireland, vehicle registration plates (commonly known as "number plates") are the visual indications of motor vehicle registration – officially termed "index marks" – which it has been mandatory since 1903 to display on most motor vehicles used on public roads in Ireland. The alphanumeric marks (or "registration numbers") themselves were issued by the local authority in which a vehicle is first registered. The current specification for number plates is the format YYY–CC–SSSSSS. Those issued from 1987 to 2012 had the format YY–CC–SSSSSS. The components are: Since 1991, the
Vehicle registration plates of the Channel Islands are in the low 3000's (e.g. AY 3017). Alderney is identified as a jurisdiction in its own right in the 1926 Convention on Motor Traffic. Before the Second World War registration were issued at the Island Hall by the Island's Government, the States of Alderney; following the 1948 Agreement driver and vehicle licensing was delegated by the States of Alderney to the Guernsey Government as one of the "transferred services"; thus motor vehicle registrations are now issued at the General Office of the States of Alderney at the Island Hall. Registration certificates (known informally as 'log books', as in the