How to File a Patent in Ireland: 3 Smart Paths

You have an invention, a market in Ireland, and a decision to make before the clock runs out on your priority year. Knowing how to file a patent in Ireland is really a question of choosing the right route: a direct national application, a European patent that you later validate here, or an international (PCT) application that arrives through the European Patent Office. Each path has different costs, deadlines and strategic trade-offs. This guide walks through all three the way we would brief a client, with the real fees charged by the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI) and the dates you cannot afford to miss.

How to File a Patent in Ireland: The Three Routes

Ireland is an English-language, common-law market with a fast commercial court and a deep pharma, medtech and software base, so it is rarely a jurisdiction you skip. The practical question is not whether to protect an invention here but which of three routes to use.

1. A national application filed directly at the IPOI — the simplest and cheapest way to get an Irish-only patent.
2. A European patent granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and then validated for Ireland — the usual choice when you also want Germany, France and the rest of Europe.
3. A PCT international application designating Europe, which for Ireland is processed by the EPO rather than through a separate Irish national phase.

Ireland is a full member of the European Patent Convention, so the European and PCT routes both work here. It is not, however, a member of the Unitary Patent system in practice — more on that below. Picking the route early matters because the deadlines differ by more than a year.

Route 1: A National Application at the IPOI

If Ireland is your first filing or your only market, you file straight at the IPOI. Ireland is unusual in offering two national patents, and choosing between them is the first real decision.

The full-term patent lasts up to 20 years. Since 19 May 2017 it is substantively examined — the IPOI checks novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability — so this is a genuine examined right, not a registration formality. The filing fee is €125, a search request before grant costs €200, and the grant fee is €64.

The short-term patent lasts a maximum of 10 years, is capped at five claims and is not substantively examined before grant. Its fees run at roughly half the full-term rate — a €60 filing fee and a €30 grant fee — which makes it attractive for shorter-lived or less complex inventions. If you later obtain a full-term patent for the same invention, the short-term patent falls away. The current amounts are published on the IPOI statutory fees schedule.

The mechanics of the full-term route matter too. After filing you must either request a search from the IPOI or supply a search report, then respond to any examination report before the office will grant. In practice many applicants file the Irish application claiming priority from an earlier first filing and rely on the corresponding search, which keeps the process efficient. The IPOI’s own description of the two patent types is a useful reference when you weigh cost against the strength of the right.

For either type, renewal fees become payable annually from the third year to keep the patent alive, and missing a renewal lets the patent lapse. A Dublin- or Cork-based attorney can manage the national route end to end; see our teams on the Ireland hub.

Route 2: A European Patent Validated in Ireland

Most international applicants do not file nationally in Ireland at all. They prosecute a single European patent at the EPO and, once it grants, validate it for Ireland. One examination covers up to 39 European states, and you only pay to keep the countries that matter.

Validation in Ireland is cheap and quick for one simple reason: Ireland is an English-language state under the London Agreement, so there is no translation bill. You record the granted European patent with the IPOI within the deadline after the grant is mentioned in the European Patent Bulletin and then pay Irish renewal fees from there on. We cover the mechanics in detail in our guide to validating a European patent in Ireland.

The attraction of the European route is leverage: a single prosecution at the EPO, examined once by examiners who specialise in your field, that you can then spread across the markets you actually care about. You defer the country-by-country spend until grant, when you know the claims you have. For an applicant who wants Ireland plus Germany, France, the Netherlands and a few others, that is far more efficient than a stack of parallel national filings.

Because the European route and the national route end in the same place — an enforceable Irish patent — the choice usually turns on how many other European countries you want. One or two: file nationally. A broad European footprint: file at the EPO and validate.

Route 3: The PCT — and Why It Runs Through the EPO

Here is the point that trips up foreign applicants most often. Ireland has closed its national route for PCT applications. You cannot enter a “PCT national phase in Ireland” directly at the IPOI.

Instead, a PCT application that designates Ireland is treated as an application for a European patent for Ireland and is handled by the EPO. In practice that means you enter the European regional phase at the EPO — the deadline is 31 months from your earliest priority date — prosecute the application there, and validate the granted European patent in Ireland exactly as in Route 2. The IPOI confirms this on its own PCT guidance page.

So although there are three starting points, the PCT and European routes converge: both finish as a European patent that you validate for Ireland. The only pure national option is a direct IPOI filing under Route 1. Getting this wrong — waiting for an Irish national phase that does not exist — is a classic way to lose rights, so diarise the 31-month EPO date, not a phantom Irish one.

Costs, Deadlines and the Dates You Cannot Miss

Whichever route you take, a handful of dates govern everything:

• 12 months from your first filing to claim priority in a later Irish, European or PCT application.
• 31 months from priority to enter the European regional phase at the EPO if you went the PCT route.
• Validation of a granted European patent must be recorded with the IPOI within the short window after grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin.
• Renewal fees fall due annually from the third year for a national Irish patent.

If you are filing from abroad and your invention was made in Ireland, also check whether a foreign-filing permission applies before you file overseas — the principles are the same ones we explain in our guide to foreign filing licenses and export controls. Budget for attorney fees on top of the IPOI’s statutory fees; the official amounts above are only part of the picture.

Which Route Is Right — and Where You Enforce It

A short decision guide: want Ireland only, cheaply? File a national short-term or full-term patent at the IPOI. Want Ireland plus the major European economies? File at the EPO (directly or via the PCT) and validate in Ireland. Already have a PCT application on file? You are going through the EPO regional phase whether you like it or not.

Wherever the patent comes from, it is enforced the same way — in the High Court in Dublin, usually on the fast-tracked Commercial List. Ireland signed the Unified Patent Court Agreement but has not ratified it, so the UPC does not cover Ireland and Unitary Patents do not reach here; an Irish validation remains essential. We set out the enforcement side in our companion guide to patent litigation in Ireland, and our local teams on the Dublin and prior-art search pages can help before and after filing.

File Your Irish Patent With Confidence

Not sure whether to file nationally, through the EPO or via the PCT? PerspireIP maps the right route to your budget and markets, prepares the application, and manages every deadline. Talk to our patent team about protecting your invention in Ireland.

Frequently Asked Questions