Student Car Insurance in Ireland: the Student and Young Driver Offer
If you are a student insuring a car in your own name, GMIB.ie runs a student and young driver off...
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Declaring the conviction and the disqualification
Our full quote asks about convictions and about disqualifications over a set number of past years. Under the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 you must answer the insurer’s questions honestly and with reasonable care, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), the State’s consumer watchdog, warns that a policy can be cancelled for undisclosed details and that you may then find it difficult to get cover. Give the conviction, the date, the court and the disqualification dates for the period asked.
A fixed penalty notice still counts. A driver over the limit in the lower bands, holding a valid licence and with no similar notice in the previous three years, is issued a fixed penalty notice instead of a court summons. Paying it within 28 days avoids court, but the notice still carries a disqualification of three or six months. Our full quote asks about disqualifications, so declare it.
Some convictions become spent after seven years; our car insurance for convicted drivers page explains the rule and the exception for insurance. If you were disqualified for another reason as well, see car insurance after a driving ban. If three insurers refuse you in writing, the Declined Cases Agreement applies and Insurance Ireland’s Declined Cases Committee will get a quotation for you, according to Citizens Information; our refused car insurance page explains it.
Disqualification periods for drink driving
The disqualification periods below are minimums a judge can increase. In court, the disqualification depends on the alcohol level and whether it is a first offence:
- 50 to 80mg per 100ml of blood: six months for a first offence, one year for a second
- 80 to 100mg: one year, then two years
- 100 to 150mg: two years, then four
- over 150mg: three years, then six
- being too intoxicated to be in proper control of the vehicle: at least four years, then six
Under the fixed penalty scheme, an experienced driver gets three months at 50 to 80mg and six months at 80 to 100mg. Other drivers get three months at 21 to 80mg, because lower limits apply to learner permit holders, drivers who have held a licence for two years or less, and drivers of buses, lorries, trailers, work vehicles, taxis and other public service vehicles.
You can apply to the court that made the order for early restoration once you are more than halfway through the disqualification; the licence will not be restored if the ban is for two years or less or if you have had another disqualification in the past ten years, and the court can reduce the period to two-thirds of the original or to two years, whichever is greater.
Have ready the conviction or notice date, the court if any, the disqualification start and end dates, your licence status now, and your no-claims bonus letter if you have one. To talk it through, call 0818 92 92 42, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.
Sources: Citizens Information – drink driving offences; Citizens Information – being disqualified from driving; Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019; CCPC – car insurance. Last reviewed September 2026.
