I'm not sure I understand the question.
As you say, the ICAO IR needs to be current and valid. That doesn't mean you must have obtained it within the last year, though - you may have obtained it many years ago, but renewed it regularly since then.
Also, there is no requirement to do the convertion within one year of the ATPL (or IR) exams. The exam credits are valid for 3 years from the date of the final exams (that's certainly the case for ATPL exams, I think the same is true for IR exams but I'd need to check to confirm) so you can do the convertion any time within that 3 year period.
Does that answer the question???
FFF
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