THE Countryside Alliance Ireland offers advice for travelling hounds from Northern Ireland to the Republic ahead of the 2023 season. While authorities in the Republic have been quite relaxed about this with no routine checks, it is worth keeping hold of the relevant documents just in case.

Technically, because you are entering the EU when travelling from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland, you need to follow the EU rules when taking a dog, which includes getting an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) issued and tapeworm treatment administered before travelling.

All dogs entering the Republic of Ireland are required to have tapeworm treatment administered and recorded by a vet between 24 hours (1 day) and 120 hours (5 days) before the dog’s scheduled arrival time in the Republic of Ireland.

The vet that administers the tapeworm treatment does not have to be an “official veterinarian”, any vet can administer and record tapeworm treatment.

To avoid having to make multiple appointments with the vet, it’s worth seeing whether they can issue the AHC and administer the tapeworm treatment at the same time, for example, between 24 hours and 120 hours before you arrive in the Republic of Ireland.