Irish vehicle registration plates - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Registration marks on number plate
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...

s in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where the components are:

YY — a 2-digit year (e.g. 87 for 1987; 05 for 2005)
CC — a 1- or 2-character county
Counties of Ireland
The counties of Ireland are sub-national divisions used for the purposes of geographic demarcation and local government. Closely related to the county is the County corporate which covered towns or cities which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their counties. A county...

identifier (e.g. D for Dublin; SO for Sligo).
SSSSSS — a 1- to 6-digit sequence number, starting with the first vehicle registered in the county that year.

Since 1991, the design of the standard Irish number plate has been based on European standard guidelines, with a blue band to the left of the plate containing the 12 stars of the European flag

European flag

The flag of Europe consists of a circle of 12 golden stars on an azure background. It is the flag and emblem of the European Union and Council of Europe . It is also often used to indicate eurozone countries, and, more loosely, to represent the continent of Europe or the countries of Europe...

and the country identifier IRL.