Apostille

Walk-in Apostille Service (Dublin and Cork Offices)

Dublin Office
42 – 47 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. The service operates on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and is closed on Wednesdays. No walk-in service will operate on Wednesday. Any documents brought in on Wednesday will be treated as a drop-off document.

Opening hours are:
9.30 am – 12.30 pm
2.30 pm – 3.30 pm

A maximum of five documents can be authenticated / apostilled while you wait. If you have more than five documents, they will be returned by post later, or you can request collection. They will advise when documents are ready for collection.
If large bundles of documents are broken into smaller bundles by the same organisation, these will be treated as drop-off bundles as above. For example, if twenty documents are broken into four groups of five by the same company.

Cork Office
1A South Mall, Cork, T12 TA46. The same rules apply to the Cork Office as the Dublin office, except for opening hours.

The opening hours are Tuesday and Thursday mornings only, between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm.

Apostille Postal Service

Documents are to be sent by registered post; you should note the tracking number.

Documents will be returned by registered post at no additional cost.

Post documents to:
Authentication Section
Consular Division
Department of Foreign Affairs
80 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2
D02 VY53

For Munster Region Only
Authentication Section
Consular Division
Department of Foreign Affairs
1A South Mall
Cork
T12 TA46

Apostille Drop-off Service (Dublin and Cork Offices)

Documents can be dropped into the DFA offices. The envelope MUST be marked for the attention of the "Authentications Section". A cover letter and the appropriate fee are required. They will be returned by registered post. Or you can request collection in your cover letter, and they will phone you when they are ready. If you have more than five documents at the counter, your documents will be treated as the walk-in service and returned by post.
The envelope MUST be marked for the attention of the "Authentications Section".

Three drop-off locations are operating between 9 am – 4 pm on weekdays. Two in Dublin:

1. Authentications Unit, Knockmaun House, 42-47 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2
2.  Authentications Unit, Iveagh House, 80 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2

One in Cork:

1. Authentications Unit, 1A South Mall, Cork

Apostille Procedures

Binding
Documents should be securely bound, and they should have no blanks that can be filled in after the fact. This ensures the integrity of the documents and that no documents can be removed or subsequently.
If staples are being used, some additional security measures must be incorporated. This can be done by covering the rear side of the staple with a seal at a minimum or, indeed, covering both sides of the staple.

Irish Nexus
The position of the Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland is that it is the notarial act, signature, and seal to it that benefits from the legalisation process. This has been continually raised with the DFA, but they still insist on applying a public policy requirement about the documents submitted. There is a so-called “Irish Nexus” requirement. This is twofold:

1. No “foreign document” can be included. This included foreign passports, Certificates, company documentation and court documentation. Particular care should be taken if assisting with affidavits to be used in foreign Courts to explain to the clients that certain exhibits may not get past the DF’s scrutiny and their policy. This has caused understandable issues for Notaries and their appearances in the past. There must be some Irish connection with the document. A POA signed by an American selling property in Spain on the face of it has no connection with this jurisdiction. The Notary can, however, in this circumstance, add value by establishing the Irish connection by inserting details of the American’s residence in Ireland.
2.  NEVER allow the words “Republic of Ireland” to appear anywhere on a document. Ireland or Éire is the correct description. Don’t let this slip past you.

Translations
Ensure that in a dual language document, there is no use of the word translation. The DFA prefer the word “version”.
Where a document is in a language other than English or Irish, the DFA insists upon a Translation of the same by a “Recognised” translation company. There is no such list of “Recognised” translators. The DFA appears to be satisfied once the translation company is registered in this jurisdiction.

Emergencies
The DFA has been very accommodating in the event of an emergency. The procedure here is to contact them by phone or e-mail to set out the urgency, and they will arrange an appointment for you or those who appeared to attend during or outside regular working hours. They are usually very accommodating.

Email: authentications@dfa.ie
Tel: (353) (01) 408 2174