I would like for this page to be a helpful resource for anyone looking to find answers to basic questions about finding or using a notary in Dublin or Ireland. If you have a question that is not answered here or to which you think others might find it useful to know the answer I would be very grateful if you could send me an email and just write the word FAQs in the subject line.
Our fee for a simple personal notarisation (e.g. passport or other document certification as a true copy or a simple document requiring signature validation/authentication) is €60. We offer discounts for senior citizens, the unwaged and for volume of notarisations (4 or more documents). Corporate notarisations start from €100 and this is also the standard charge for standard personal documents. More complex documents (such as bilingual powers of attorney for use abroad) will cost from €200 and documents which require material editing, translation and other extra work will cost more.
Legalisation (also legalization) is the process of making a document fit for acceptance and use in a foreign jurisdiction. There are three possible procedures to be involved.
The term apostille refers to the specific standard form of confirmation affixed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFA) to documents which are to be used in a Hague Convention country. The purpose of the Hague Apostille Convention is to abolish the traditional requirement of legalisation, replacing the often long and costly legalisation process.
Under the Hague Apostille Convention every country nominates a central authority to manage the apostille process and the DFA is the authority nominated by Ireland.
An apostille issued by the DFA confirms that the notary who has notarised a document is duly appointed and that the signature and seal of the notary reflect those which are on file with the DFA. Hague Convention apostilles contain a number of specific features and can be verified electronically online. They are effectively the gold standard of international document exchange.
A Power of Attorney is a legal document where one person (usually called the Donor, Grantor or Principal) gives authority or powers to another person (usually called the Attorney) to conclude contracts or take actions on behalf of the Donor / Grantor / Principal in their absence. Powers of attorney are often used abroad in connection with property sales or purchases or in connection with prosecuting litigation or making filings with Government authorities.
We have particular experience with Spanish powers of attorney which are needed in connection with applications for NIE (Numero de Indentificacion de Extranjeros) and NIF (Numero de Identificacion Fiscal) numbers.
No, notarisation has no impact on the legality or enforceability of a document. The role of a notary is to verify the identity of signatories to a document and to guarantee to third parties that the signatures on a document are the signatures of the people whose identity the notary has verified. The signature and seal of a Notary Public verifies to authorities in another country that all the necessary checks and have been carried out to authenticate the document if it is an original or a copy document.
We recommend Google Maps as the easiest and quickest way to find the best notary for your needs who is also near to your location. If you navigate to that site and type Notary near me or Notary public near me you should find a range of options close to your location and that will allow you check if they offer the services you need at a price you are comfortable with and at a time of your convenience. Of course, we also welcome your email at any time. The Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland also offers a useful Find a Notary service which may be helpful.
We can notarise foreign degrees, certificates and other educational qualifications but these cannot currently be apostilled or legalised because the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is not in a position to verify so-called 'foreign documents'. Accordingly, if you are planning to work or study abroad and are currently living in Ireland you may need to have your educational qualifications apostilled or legalised abroad.
You'll need to bring your identification documents (see /client-identification) and you may need to bring the documents you wish to sign, which must be signed in the presence of the notary (and not before). We are generally happy to print or copy small amounts (~10 pages) of documents (in black and white or in colour) on fine quality paper at no extra charge and as part of our standard service.
No, we can notarise documents for anyone who can provide the requisite evidence of their identity. However, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will not apostille or authenticate a document which does not - on its face - demonstrate a connection to Ireland. Accordingly, if you are a foreign national you will need to state the address in Ireland at which you reside or if you are an Irish citizen residing abroad you can simply state your Irish passport number.
People often wonder how to find the best notary near them or how to find a notary local to them. There are two options. The first is to go to the Faculty of Notaries Public. They are the representative and regulatory body for Irish notaries and they have a search function which allows you to search by name and/or county and then to zoom in on a map. The second (and arguably better) option is to simply jump to the trusty Google Maps. If you try more than one option please let us know which works best for you.
We are fluent in Italian, French and Spanish so we can notarise documents in those languages without the need for them to be translated into English first. Any such documents will count as complex notarisations for the purposes of assessing the relevant fees. For most other non-English documents we can notarise your signature (having first verified your identity) but we will append a stamp to the document to clearly explain the limits of our notarisation in such cases.
However, if you need your document to be apostilled or legalised by the Department of Foreign Affairs, you will need to be able to present an English language version because they will not apostille or authenticate documents in foreign language only. This can be (a) English-only (in which case you will likely have to get the document translated in the country in which it will be used), (b) dual language (i.e. a document in two languages saying the same thing, usually side by side), or (c) foreign language only accompanied by an English translation (if you are going this route your translation must be done by an Irish certified translation agency). We typically recommend the dual language option and in such cases it is just important not to mention the words "translate", "translation" or similar so as to avoid the need to engage a certified translation firm.
One question we get asked a lot is if you need a notary or a solicitor. Generally speaking, if your documents are for use in Ireland, you should not need a notary and a solicitor will do. Feel free to drop us an email if you are in doubt. Solicitors are usually a lot cheaper than notaries and are also much more common and available, so if you don't need a notary please try to find a convenient solicitor first. Again, Google Maps is likely your best bet. Some notaries are also solicitors and can offer services in both capacities but here at Dublin 2 Notary we specialise in providing notarial services of the very highest quality so we do not offer certification or swearing as solicitors. In a handful of recent cases, we have been engaged in relation to more complex situations where (technically) the work could have been handled by a solicitor but the issues were sufficiently complex that our clients were unable to find a solicitor to help them in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Most, but not all, documents cannot be notarised remotely and they will require personal attendance at the office of your notary. This is mostly due to the terms of applicable law and regulatory guidance in Ireland (which mandates personal rather than remote attendance in Ireland). However, some documents can be notarised remotely, with or without video verification, and it is also possible for us to notarise documents that we obtain from public registers (such as the Companies Registration Office or the Land Registry) or which we can authenticate and verify online (such as certain educational qualifications). In these cases some element of extra fees will be involved (e.g. €50 if a video call consultation is necessary) due to the extra time involved. If you are in any doubt, please don't hesitate to get in touch, preferably by email setting out a summary of what you need and what documents are involved.
The structural integrity of documents that have been notarised are important. If we are notarising a document we will either initial and/or stamp each page or bind them together in a permanent way.
This shifts a little if you will be getting your documents apostilled or authenticated by the DFA. In this case, they require that all multi-page documents are either permanently bound with brass rivets or, if stapled, that the staples are covered with a notarial wafer seal. You can save yourself valuable time and money by being aware of this ahead of time.
Please email us at info@dublin2notary.ie if you have a question which isn't answered here and which might be useful for other users.
© 2019, Giuseppe Santoro