· Written and maintained by Nonimo
A copy of your Irish driving licence usually goes to one of three places: a car club or rental app, an employer who needs to know you can drive the company van, or an insurer adding a driver. What they check is your name, your photo, the licence number, the categories you hold and that the licence is in date.
Everything else can be covered before it goes: your date and place of birth, the driver number at 4d, the address, your signature and the codes. Then add a watermark that says who the copy is for and when.
The tool at the top of this page does that from a photo or a scan. Drop in your licence and it is recognised straight away: name, licence number, photo, expiry date and categories stay visible, and the rest starts covered. Fill in the watermark and download. Your licence is one of the ID documents Nonimo covers in your browser, and the same approach for a passport is set out in sending a copy of your passport safely.
What to cover on a copy of your Irish driving licence, field by field
The card licence issued through the NDLS follows a numbered layout, and the legend on the back of the card spells out what each number means. Items 1 to 9 sit on the front, around the photo; items 9 to 12 run as a table on the back. The form itself is set out in the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006, as form D.402.
Most people who ask for a copy want the same handful of items. The rest of the card is there for the Gardaí, the NDLS and insurers, not for a car club checking that you are who you say you are.
| item on the card | what it is | on the copy you send |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | surname and first name | visible |
| 3 | date and place of birth | covered |
| 4a and 4c | date of issue, issued by | covered |
| 4b | date of expiry | visible |
| 4d | driver number | covered |
| 5 | licence number | visible |
| 7 and 8 | signature, address | covered |
| 9 | categories | always visible |
Items from form D.402 as replaced by S.I. No. 684 of 2020. The third column is how the tool on this page starts.
The photo stays visible as well: matching the face is half the point of a copy. Each covered item is one tap away if the recipient genuinely needs it, so the table is a starting point rather than a rule. Our list of the personal data to redact in an Irish document puts the driver number beside the PPS number for the same reason.
Two numbers on one card: 4d and 5
The card carries two numbers that are easy to confuse. Item 5 is the licence number. Item 4d is the driver number, and the 2020 regulations replaced the licence form specifically to identify 4d as the driver number.
That second number is the one that travels. Since 2025 it is the key insurers use to tie a motor policy to a driver, and it is checked against the Department of Transport’s records before a policy is issued. Anyone who is not your insurer has little use for it, which is why the tool starts with 4d covered and gives it a chip of its own.
Date of birth, address and signature
Your date and place of birth share item 3, and a car club or employer that needs your age for its insurance can ask for it directly. The address at item 8 may no longer be where you live, and nobody checking your driving needs it. The signature at item 7 has no job to do on an emailed copy, and it is the detail someone would need to imitate you on paper.
Car rental and car sharing: the counter wants the card, the app wants a photo
Car hire in Ireland splits in two. At a rental desk the card itself does the work: Europcar’s page for Dublin Airport says you present your driving licence to its customer representative when you collect the car. A photocopy is no substitute at the counter, so bring the licence.
The copy comes in earlier, when you book online or join a car club through an app. GoCar lists uploading your licence and a selfie among the steps to join, and its terms ask for a full driving licence held for at least two years. When you start a trip, it may also ask you to capture an image of your face to compare with your account.
The YUKÓ car club sets a similar bar in its terms: a full licence for the class of vehicle, held for a minimum of 24 months. Both checks rest on the same items, your name, photo, categories and the expiry date, plus the dates on the back if the app wants to see how long you have held a category.
What a car club app needs to read
An app that verifies your licence automatically has to read the characters on it, so choose the stamp style for the watermark. It leaves every letter and digit readable and still marks the copy as yours, for that app and that month. The driver number, address, signature and date of birth can stay covered unless the app asks for one of them.
A phone photo also carries details nobody sees on screen: the phone model, the time and, with location on, where you were standing. The tool removes them on download, which is the same clean-up our guide to the metadata inside photos and documents recommends for any file.
Your employer: driving roles, fleet checks and the grey fleet declaration
If you drive for work, the request for a licence copy has a basis. An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Authority and the Road Safety Authority published joint guidance for employers in July 2025, and it tells employers to check a worker’s driving licence at least annually, and to confirm that the licence is appropriate for the vehicles being driven.
That covers the company van, the pool car and the grey fleet: your own car, used on company business. The guidance includes a sample grey fleet declaration that asks for your licence number and the licence expiry date, and it is returned to your line manager with a copy of your current licence and your motor insurance policy.
A new declaration is needed every year, or whenever your licence is renewed or altered. So the copy goes to HR again and again, and each one lands in a personnel file that already holds plenty about you, often including the PPS number whose limits are set out in our guide to whether a PPSN is personal data.
What the employer checks, and what the DPC expects
Look at what the declaration asks for: the licence number and the expiry date. The categories show whether you can drive the vehicle. None of that needs your date of birth, the driver number or your home address as printed on a card from years ago.
The Data Protection Commission describes data minimisation simply: personal data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose. A licence copy with the preset applied meets that test without any argument with HR, and the watermark names the employer and the month, so a copy that strays from the file is easy to trace.
Taxi and hackney: the SPSV licence on top
Driving a taxi, hackney or limousine takes a second licence. The National Transport Authority grants an SPSV driver licence to people who have held a driving licence for at least 12 months without endorsement, passed the SPSV Driver Entry Test and been vetted by An Garda Síochána.
That application is made at your local Garda station, with your driving licence and an up to date copy of your NDLS driver statement. Bring the card in person. Any copy you are asked to email later in the process is the one to cover and watermark.
Car insurance: the one request that needs the driver number
Motor insurance is where the driver number belongs. Since 31 March 2025 motorists must give their insurer their driver number, and those of any named drivers, when they take out a policy. The Department of Transport said insurers must validate it against the National Vehicle and Driver File before a policy is issued.
Insurance Ireland’s chief executive said in that announcement that members already held over 2 million driver numbers. For a quote or a renewal you usually type the number into a form. A copy of the licence tends to appear when a broker adds a named driver, checks a young driver’s categories or opens a claim file.
For those, uncover the driver number and leave the rest of the preset as it is: the broker sees the number, the name, the photo and the categories, and not your date of birth, address or signature. Brokers who handle these files every week will find our page for insurance brokers useful.
Front and back: send the side they ask for
The front of the card answers most requests on its own. It has your name, photo, licence number, expiry date and the list of categories you hold. The back is a table: the categories again in column 9, the date from which you have held each one in column 10, the date each one runs to in column 11, and any codes in column 12.
So ask first which side is wanted. A car club that wants to see how long you have held a full licence may need the back; an employer checking that you can drive a van usually gets what it needs from the front.
When the back has to go too, it can be covered as well, with the chips or with a box you draw by hand over anything the recipient has not asked for, such as the codes in column 12. Leave the categories readable: they are what a licence copy is for.
If you scan both sides into one PDF, the cover has to survive inside the file, the trap our guide on redacting a PDF properly walks through.
What to write in the watermark on a licence copy
A watermark turns a copy of your licence into a single use document. It works only if it is specific: who the copy is for, what it is for and the month. A plain word such as COPY fits any misuse, so it protects nothing.
| who is asking | example watermark text | style |
|---|---|---|
| Car club app | For car club membership use only · October 2026 | stamp |
| Car hire booking | For car hire booking use only · October 2026 | all over |
| Employer, driving role | For HR licence check use only · October 2026 | all over |
| Broker, named driver | For named driver addition use only · October 2026 | stamp |
Example texts written for this page, following the line the tool suggests.
The tool suggests the line already, with a blank for the recipient and the current month filled in, and you can switch the watermark off. All over repeats your text diagonally across the whole card, photo included, so there is no clean corner to crop. The stamp is a single band that leaves every character readable, for an app or a broker who has to read the card.
Either way, the watermark is burned into the pixels of the file you download. It is not a layer someone can lift off in an editor. The logic is the same as for a watermarked copy of your passport: a copy that names its recipient is worth very little anywhere else.
Sending it: email, WhatsApp or an upload in the app
The cover and the watermark deal with what can be seen. Before you press send, take care of the file and the route it takes.
- Use their channel. A car club’s app or an employer’s HR system keeps the copy out of mail threads. Email and WhatsApp work, but the file then sits in two inboxes or two phones.
- Check the recipient. If a request arrives by email or text, confirm it through the company’s own website or a number you already have before you send anything.
- Send a clean file. The download carries no camera details and no location, so the copy says nothing about where it was taken.
- Tidy up afterwards. Delete the photo from your camera roll and sent items when the matter is closed, and ask for the copy to be deleted when it is no longer needed.
That last request has the DPC behind it. Under the storage limitation principle, personal data should be kept only for as long as the purpose needs. A car club you have left or a recruiter for a job you did not take has no reason to keep your licence.
The same habit matters inside the business that receives the copy. Licence copies sit in HR files and claim files that also get summarised with AI tools, which is the problem what ChatGPT keeps of your data looks at from the user’s side.
Cover your licence and watermark it on your phone or laptop
The tool is one screen and works the same on a phone as on a computer. Drop a photo or a scan of your licence, or pick one from your phone: it takes JPG, PNG, WEBP, PDF and the HEIC photos an iPhone saves by default. It reads the card in your browser and recognises the Irish licence, and you can switch between the card only and the whole photo.
It starts from a copy preset made for a licence. Your name, licence number, photo, expiry date and categories stay visible; your date and place of birth, the issue date, the issuing authority, the driver number, the card number, your address, signature, the codes under other details and the line along the bottom edge start covered. The categories are never covered.
Each item has a chip: tap one to cover it or show it again, and the driver number has a chip of its own for the day your insurer asks. You can also draw a box by hand over anything else, click one of your boxes to remove it, reset everything, or show it all and cover it again.
Download as PNG, JPG or PDF, with the boxes and the watermark burned in and the file re-encoded, so no EXIF details, no GPS position and none of the original bytes go with it. Your document never leaves your device: it is read and redacted in your browser. Have the photo or scan on your computer already? The Nonimo app for Mac and Windows does the same job there.
If the licence is going into an AI chatbot instead, to ask what a code in column 12 means, tap your name, photo and licence number too, so nothing about you is left visible before the image is shown to the AI. The categories and codes are what the question is about, and they stay. If an uncovered photo already went into a chat, delete the chat and any file ChatGPT saved.
What the chatbot then keeps of the image, and for how long, is in our guide to AI photo uploads.
For the text you paste into AI tools at work, the same habit is built into our app: software that covers names, PPS numbers and Eircodes before your text reaches ChatGPT.
Sources
- Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) (Amendment) (No. 11) Regulations 2020, S.I. No. 684 of 2020. Form D.402 replaced to identify item 4d as the driver number, in operation from 23 December 2020; the legend of the card’s items 1 to 12 (name, first name, date and place of birth, date of issue, date of expiry, issued by, driver number, licence number, categories, valid from, valid to, codes) on side 2 of the form. irishstatutebook.ie
- Department of Transport, press release of 14 November 2024 (updated 12 April 2025). Driver number of the motorist and any named drivers needed to take out motor insurance from 31 March 2025; validation against the National Vehicle and Driver File before a policy is issued; over 2 million driver numbers already collected by Insurance Ireland members. gov.ie
- An Garda Síochána, HSA and RSA, Driving for Work: Risk Management Guidance for Employers (July 2025). Check a worker’s driving licence at least annually and that it is appropriate for the vehicle; sample grey fleet declaration asking for licence number and expiry date, returned with a copy of the current licence and insurance policy, renewed annually or when the licence is renewed or altered. drivingforwork.ie
- GoCar, How to join and Terms of use; YUKÓ, Terms. Uploading your licence and a selfie among the steps to join GoCar (gocar.ie); a full licence held for at least two years, the licence carried when driving, and a face image check at the start of a trip (gocar.ie); YUKÓ members hold a full licence for the class of vehicle for a minimum of 24 months (yuko.ie).
- Europcar Ireland, Dublin Airport. You present your driving licence to the customer representative at collection. europcar.ie
- National Transport Authority, Applying for an SPSV driver licence. An SPSV driver licence covers taxi, hackney and limousine; driving licence held for at least 12 months without endorsement, the SPSV Driver Entry Test and Garda vetting; application at a Garda station with your driving licence and an up to date NDLS driver statement. nationaltransport.ie
- Data Protection Commission, Principles of data protection. Data minimisation (adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary) and storage limitation (kept no longer than necessary for the purpose). dataprotection.ie
Common questions
What should I cover on a copy of my Irish driving licence?
Cover your date and place of birth, the issue date, the issuing authority, the driver number at 4d, your signature, the address and the codes in field 12. Keep your name, photo, licence number, expiry date and categories visible: that is what a car club, a rental branch or an employer is checking.
Is the driver number the same as the licence number?
No. On the card licence the driver number is printed at item 4d and the licence number at item 5. Insurers now ask for the driver number, and they check it against the Department of Transport's records, so it is the one to keep covered for anyone who is not your insurer.
Does my car insurer need a copy of my licence?
Often only the driver number. Since 31 March 2025 you give your insurer your driver number, and those of any named drivers, when you take out motor insurance. If a broker asks for a copy as well, uncover the driver number and leave the rest of the preset as it is.
Why does my employer want a copy of my driving licence?
If you drive for work, your employer is expected to check you hold a valid licence for the vehicle. The joint RSA, HSA and Garda guidance for employers says to check licences at least annually, and its sample grey fleet declaration is returned with a copy of your current licence.
Do car sharing apps in Ireland need a photo of my licence?
For GoCar, yes. It lists uploading your licence and a selfie among its joining steps, and it asks for a full licence held for at least two years. A covered, watermarked photo with the stamp style keeps every character the app needs readable.
Will a car hire desk accept a copy instead of my licence?
Do not count on it. At Dublin Airport, Europcar asks you to present your driving licence to its customer representative at collection. The copy is for the online booking or the app; bring the card itself to the counter.
Do I need to send the back of my licence?
Only if they ask for it. The back holds the categories table with the dates for each category and the codes in column 12. Send the front alone when that answers the request, and if both sides are needed, cover the back with the chips or a box you draw.
What should the watermark on a licence copy say?
Who the copy is for, what it is for and the month: for example, For car club membership use only · October 2026. Make it cross the photo and your details, because a line in a corner can be cropped out in seconds.
Does the photo of my licence get uploaded to Nonimo?
No. Your document never leaves your device: it is read and redacted in your browser. The file you download has the boxes and the watermark burned into the pixels, and it carries no camera details and no GPS position.