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Method

How we research and check our guides

Short answer: We start from the official page for each fact: NDLS and the RSA for fees and steps, the Irish Statute Book for penalties, and the issuing body for checks. A fact we cannot open and read is left out or marked. Fees carry the date we checked them, and every guide shows a review date.

Last reviewed: · By Mark Dent

What counts as evidence

  1. Official pages we have opened: NDLS, the RSA, theorytest.ie, the Passport Service, SOLAS, An Garda Síochána, the CCPC and the Irish Statute Book.
  2. Official statements reported in the press, such as Garda and RSA warnings.
  3. Press court reports for cases, worded as "reported".
  4. Everything else is not used as a fact.

House rules

  • Fees, durations and penalties come only from a page we opened. Fees show the date checked.
  • A maximum penalty is never presented as a usual sentence.
  • We use a case only after reading its report, and we do not name defendants.
  • We do not name or link to sellers. We describe the pattern.
  • We do not describe how to forge or test a forged document.

Left out on purpose

Passport fees, because the fee page was unreachable. A statutory penalty for forging Safe Pass cards, because we did not read the text. Cases we saw only in search results. Any claim about a seller's identity.

Obstacles and workarounds

Some official sites block automated readers. Where that happened we opened the page in a browser, and for one NDLS list we used an archived copy and said so on the page. We re-check the live page before relying on anything that can change.

Keyword data

We use Google Ads search volumes from DataForSEO for Ireland to decide which topics matter, and we say when demand is small.

See sources and corrections.

Keep reading

About the author
Written by Mark Dent from NDLS and RSA pages, the text of Irish legislation and court reports. We do not sell, issue or arrange any licence or document, and we are not part of the RSA, NDLS or any State body. See our editorial policy or report a mistake.