Night buses in Ireland: Nitelink and 24-hour routes

Nitelink is Dublin Bus's late-night network, running on Friday and Saturday nights (into Saturday and Sunday mornings) from around midnight to about 4:00. All routes leave from the city centre — Westmoreland Street, D'Olier Street and College Street around Trinity College — and fan out to the suburbs; route numbers end in N, such as the 15N to Ballycullen or the 41N to Swords.

Buses run roughly every 30 minutes on the busier routes and hourly on others. There is no Nitelink on Sunday to Thursday nights, or on some public holiday weekends — check the timetable before relying on it.

A number of Dublin routes run all night, every night, on a reduced frequency: for example the 15 (Clongriffin–Ballycullen), the 41 (Swords–Lower Abbey Street, via the airport), the C-spine routes across the city and the 39A. These use normal stops and normal fares, so they are usually the better option, and the 41 gets you to and from the airport at any hour.

Luas and DART do not run through the night; the last trams leave the city centre around 0:30.

Nitelink has its own flat fare, higher than a daytime fare, and the Leap Card is accepted; daily caps do not apply to it. Cash is accepted as exact fare only. The 24-hour routes charge the ordinary fare with the usual Leap discounts and the 90-minute transfer.

Current Nitelink and night fares are on the Dublin “Tickets & fares” page.

Cork has Bus Éireann late services on some city routes on Friday and Saturday nights, and Galway, Limerick and Waterford run their last city buses around 23:30 with no dedicated night network. Outside these hours a taxi is the realistic option; the taxi apps common in Ireland work in all the main cities.

Each city's timetable page shows the last departure on every route.