O'Shea Travel

Tips and Tools

CALCULATING CURRENCY CONVERSION

Ireland's currency is the Euro (€). Exchange rates vary by the type of currency to exchange, the bank or service exchanging the currency, and date and time of day. Check with your bank for their exhange rates, or visit www.xe.com for an online calculator. The rates may be different when you are actually in Ireland.

TIME ZONE

Ireland is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and in accordance with daylight saving, clocks are put forward one hour mid-March and back one hour at the end of October.

DAYLIGHT

The hours of daylight in Ireland differ considerably between summer and winter months. During summer it stays light until as late as 11pm but by mid-December it can be dark at 4pm.

  JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Sunrise 8.40 8.10 7.13 6.59 5.51 5.04 5.01 5.41 6.34 7.26 7.24 8.17
Sunset 16.17 17.08 18.03 20.00 20.54 21.43 21.56 21.20 20.14 19.02 16.53 16.11

CONCESSIONS

The island of Ireland widely recognizes concessions. Men and women over the age of 60 are recognized as being Senior Citizens or Old Age Pensioners and enjoy a variety of discounts and privileges. Many attractions also offer a reduced student rate/admission charge obtainable on the presentation of a valid student I.D. card.

DISABLED TRAVELERS

Many public places, including visitor attractions, are accessible to wheelchair users, and an increasing number of hotels and restaurants are fully equipped to accommodate disabled guests. Useful contacts for disabled travelers include:

HEALTH

Vaccines are neither compulsory nor necessary unless you are traveling from an infected country.

LANGUAGE

Republic of Ireland

English and Irish (Gaelic) are the two official languages of the Republic of Ireland and street and road signs are all bilingual. In Gaeltacht areas Irish is spoken daily; however, everyone speaks English.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, English is the official language. The Irish language, Gaelic, is also taught in many schools and summer schools. Ulster Scots, spoken in Northern Ireland, is on the increase and is being taught to those who are keen to explore another facet of their national identity.

SMOKING BAN

The Republic of Ireland has introduced a blanket ban on smoking in all places of work to protect public health and reduce the incidences of smoking-related illness. Smoking is prohibited in public areas within the Republic of Ireland—this includes all bars, night clubs and restaurants. Although hotel bedrooms may be exempt from the ban, it is applied to all other areas within hotels.

See our FAQ for additional information.