· Written and maintained by Nonimo
Redacting your Irish driving licence means sending a copy that shows only what the person asking needs to check. A car club, a hire company or an employer checks your name, photo, licence number, expiry date and categories. Your driver number, date of birth and signature can stay with you.
The tool above reads a photo or scan of your NDLS card in your browser. Everything shows when it opens; you tap what to cover and a black box goes over it. Your licence never leaves your device. The licence tool is one part of Nonimo, which keeps Irish client details out of AI.
Would you rather mark the copy with who it is for and the month? That is our page on a watermarked copy of your Irish driving licence. The Irish Residence Permit has one too: how to watermark an IRP card.
How to redact an Irish driving licence
1. Add a photo or scan of your licence
Drop the image into the tool or pick it on your phone, where the camera or your photos open. It takes JPG, PNG, WEBP, PDF and iPhone HEIC photos, and you can rotate, crop and straighten a card shot at an angle.
2. Tap the details to redact
Every detail gets its own chip, from Surname and Date of birth to Driver number and Signature. Nothing is covered until you tap: one tap puts a black box over it, a second shows it again. For anything else, choose Redact by hand and drag over the area, with your finger on a phone.
3. Download the redacted copy
As PNG, JPG or PDF, with the boxes burned into the pixels and no EXIF details, phone model or GPS position in the file. Send that copy, not the photo in your camera roll; what a file’s hidden metadata gives away shows why.
What to redact on an Irish licence, item by item
The plastic card issued through the NDLS uses the numbered EU layout, set out in S.I. No. 684 of 2020, which replaced the licence form to identify item 4d as the driver number. The back repeats the categories as a table, with the dates and the codes in column 12.
| item | what it is | on most copies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | surname, first name | leave readable |
| 3 | date and place of birth | redact |
| 4a | date of issue | redact |
| 4c | issued by (the RSA) | leave, it says nothing about you |
| 4b | date of expiry | leave readable |
| 4d | driver number | redact, unless it is for your insurer |
| 5 | licence number | leave readable |
| 6 | photo | leave, if they need to match your face |
| 7 | signature | redact |
| 9 to 12 | categories, dates held, codes (back) | categories readable; codes only if asked |
Items from the legend in S.I. No. 684 of 2020. Every item starts visible in the tool: you decide.
4d, the number that follows you
The driver number at 4d is the one to think about first. It is unique to you and, as the Law Society Gazette put it when the rule came in, it stays with you regardless of the vehicle you drive. Since 31 March 2025 the Department of Transport has required it, and the driver number of any named driver, before a motor policy is issued.
So your insurer needs it and almost nobody else does: leave it showing for the broker and tap it for everyone else. Item 5, the licence number, is the one a car club or employer writes down. Like a PPS number, the driver number is allocated to one person and stays with them, the textbook identifier, as our guide on whether a PPSN is personal data sets out.
Date of birth and signature
Item 3 holds your date and place of birth, each with its own chip; a car club that needs your age can ask for it. The card carries no address at all. The signature at 7 has no job on an emailed copy, and it is what someone would copy onto a form in your name.
What the person asking really needs to see
Start from the request, not from the card. The Driving for Work guidance from the RSA, the HSA and An Garda Síochána has employers check your licence at least annually, and its sample grey fleet declaration asks for the licence number and expiry date. None of that needs your date of birth, driver number or address.
Name, photo, licence number, expiry date and categories readable. Redact 3, 4a, 4d, 7 and 8.
Name, photo, licence number, expiry and categories readable. Date of birth only if the app asks for it.
Driver number at 4d readable, with name and categories. Redact the rest as usual.
That is data minimisation as the Data Protection Commission describes it: adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose. At a car hire desk you hand over the card itself; the redacted copy is for the booking, the app or the HR file. For a passport, see how to redact a passport copy, or sending a copy of your passport safely to watermark it instead; for the wallet-size card, how to redact an Irish Passport Card; for a whole document, what personal data should be redacted.
Common questions
What should I redact on my Irish driving licence?
For most requests, the driver number at 4d, your date and place of birth at 3, the issue date and the signature at 7. Leave your name, photo, licence number at 5, the expiry date at 4b and the categories at 9 readable: that is what a car club, an employer or a hire company is checking.
What is the driver number on an Irish licence?
It is the number at item 4d on the front of the card, and it is not the same as the licence number at item 5. Since 31 March 2025 you give it to your insurer when you take out motor cover, and the insurer checks it against the Department of Transport's records. Anyone else rarely needs it, so it is the first one to redact.
Should I redact the driver number when I send a copy to my insurer?
No. Your insurer or broker is the one party that does need it, because a motor policy can no longer be issued without it. Leave the driver number showing on that copy and redact the rest as usual: your date of birth and signature are not needed to check the number.
Can I redact my licence on my phone?
Yes. Open this page on your phone, take a photo of the card or pick one from your photos, and tap the chips for the details to cover. It accepts the HEIC photos an iPhone saves. The redacted copy downloads straight to the phone, and nothing has to be installed.
Is a black box better than blurring the licence?
Yes. A light blur can leave digits guessable, especially on a sharp photo taken with a good phone camera. The tool puts solid boxes over the details you tap and burns them into the pixels of the file you download, so there is no layer to lift off and nothing left underneath the box.
Do I need to redact the back of my licence as well?
Only if you send the back, and often nobody asks for it. The back is the table of categories with the dates you have held each one, the codes in column 12 and the card number. If it is needed, tap Card number for the card number, drag a box over the codes with Redact by hand, and keep the categories and dates readable.
What if the recipient needs a detail I have redacted?
Tap that chip again and the detail shows, then download a new copy. Every request is different: an employer checking a van licence needs the categories, a car club may want your date of birth for its insurance. Redact what has not been asked for, and ask before you guess.
Can I show my redacted licence to ChatGPT?
Yes, if you redact more first. To ask what a code in column 12 means, the chatbot only needs the layout and the codes, so tap your name, photo, licence number and driver number too, until nothing on the card points to you. The codes and categories stay readable for the question.