This info is from December 2016:
Under current Irish legislation (Article 5(10) of the Irish Aviation Authority (Personnel Licensing) Order 2000 (S.I. 333 of 2000) – view online at https://www.iaa.ie/docs/default-source/publications/legislation/statutory-instruments-(orders)/irish-aviation-authority-(personnel-licensing)-order-2000.pdf?sfvrsn=4 ), the holder of an ICAO Annex 1 compliant licence can exercise PPL licence privileges on Irish registered aircraft, albeit under conditions that may be more limiting than those applicable in the USA.
The full extract of Article 5(10) is as follows:-
“(10) For the purposes of this Article, a valid and subsisting licence, other than a JAA licence, issued by any other state which is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in conformity with Annex I (Personnel Licensing) to the Chicago Convention purporting to authorise the holder thereof to act as a flight crew member of an aircraft, not being a licence purporting to authorise that holder to act as a student pilot only, shall be deemed to be a licence validated by the Authority under the provisions of this Order entitling the holder thereof to fly as a member of the flight crew of a private aircraft insofar as the holder is permitted to do so by the terms of the licence and by the law of the state by which it was issued:
Provided that-
i) the holder of such a licence shall not, for the purposes of this Order, exercise any privilege relating to instruction in flying or flight under the instrument flight rules which may be attached to the licence unless otherwise so entitled under this Order,
ii) if the Authority sees fit to do so, it may at any time prohibit the holder of such a licence from exercising the privileges conferred by this subparagraph and, in that event, such licence shall cease to be deemed to be a licence validated by the Authority under the provisions of this Order.”
The above provision basically allows the applicant to exercise the privileges of an FAA PPL(H) licence without any administrative requirement, under day, VFR conditions only. The FAA licence and medical certificate must be kept valid in accordance with FAA regulations. Please note that an FAA 3rd Class medical is not compliant with ICAO Annex 1 and is not valid for flight outside of the USA. As such, you must hold an valid FAA 1st or 2nd Class medical certificate in order to fly in Ireland. A valid English Language Proficiency endorsement must also be endorsed on the FAA licence.
For info, European legislation (EU Regulation 1178/2011 (as amended)) was going to override the above automatic validation arrangements from 8th April 2017, but a further amendment to the regulation is in the pipeline that will permit EASA Member States to derogate further until at least 8th April 2017, maybeeven to 8th April 2018. After this date, EASA validation (or licence conversion) requirements will apply, which will include requirements to pass specified theory exams, an EU Part-MED Class 1 or 2 medical, a type rating course and a PPL(H) skill test.