Throughout its history, the Irish Army has used a number of armoured fighting vehicles.

Rolls-Royce armoured car

During the Irish Civil War, 13 Rolls-Royce armoured cars armed with Vickers machine guns were handed over to the National Army by the British government. All remained in service with the Irish Defence Forces until after 1945, when following the end of The Emergency they were phased out as the peacetime army shrank. Twelve were sold in the mid-1950s with one retained.

The Defence Forces preserved one Rolls-Royce armoured car, named Sliabh na mBan, as it was believed to be the actual Rolls-Royce that accompanied Michael Collins's convoy when he was killed. ARR2 Sliabh na mBan, which is reputed to be one of the world's oldest serving armoured vehicles, is displayed in the Curragh Military Museum and used for ceremonial purposes.

Peerless armoured car

The Irish National Army received seven Peerless armoured cars during the Irish Civil War and these were used by the Irish Defence Forces up until 1932. The Peerless armoured cars were fitted with two turrets each both armed with a single Hotchkiss machine gun. In 1935, 4 Irish Peerless armoured hulls were mounted on modified Leyland Terrier 6x4 chassis. A year later their twin turrets were replaced by a single Landsverk L60 tank turret. This new vehicle was known as the Leyland armoured car and remained in Irish service until the early 1980s. The fourteen old Irish Peerless turrets and its Hotchkiss machine guns were fitted to Irish built vehicles in 1940 called the Ford Mk V armoured car. A single replica has been preserved as part of the Curragh Cavalry Collection.

Lancia armoured car

The Lancia armoured cars were built by the Great Southern and Western Railway workshops, Dublin, in 1921 for the Royal Irish Constabulary. 111 Lancias were received by the Irish National Army and all were disposed of by 1937. As many as fifty Lancias were fitted with railway wheels and used by the Railway Protection, Repair and Maintenance Corps for railway patrols.

Vickers Mk. D tank The Vickers Mk. D was a one-off design built for the Irish Free State and delivered in 1929. It was developed from the Vickers Medium Mark II tank but had a more powerful, water cooled, rear mounted, 6-cylinder Sunbeam Amazon petrol engine, developing 170 bhp at 2100 rpm and a 6 pdr gun was fitted. As many as four Vickers .303 machine guns could be fitted. When the tank was scrapped in 1940 the 6 pounder gun was removed and used as an anti-tank weapon.

Landsverk L60 light tank The first Irish Landsverk L60 light tank was delivered in 1935 and joined Ireland's only other tank the Vickers Mk. D in the 2nd Armoured Squadron. The second Landsverk L60 arrived in 1936. They were both armed with a Madsen 20 mm cannon and a Madsen .303 Machine Guns.

In January 1933 the army examined options for a new armoured fighting vehicle capable of countering a tank attack, during the assumed scenario of a resumed war with Britain. The board looked at three new light tanks, considering two models built by Vickers, before deciding in favour of the L-60 built by AB Landsverk. The L-60 was significantly more expensive than the two Vickers models but the army insisted that only the L-60 met the army's requirements; so much so that it was "practically identical with the tank" envisioned by the board. The army hoped to begin domestic manufacturing of the chosen tank believing that "national economic and defence policy demands that tanks should be manufactured in Ireland". To this end the army wanted components and assembly instructions for two further vehicles alongside the first delivered example to develop practical experience of manufacturing tanks ahead of full-scale production. The Department of Finance believed the army's cost estimates had no sound basis and was of the opinion that there was "no future for any Irish firm in the manufacture or even in the assembly of tanks" in Ireland. Minister for Finance Seán MacEntee rejected the parts import idea and only authorised funds for a second L-60 tank. However, Minister for Defence Frank Aiken persisted in trying to persuade MacEntee throughout February and March 1934 of the viability of the plan assuring him that it would be affordable and "pave the way for the possible development of a mechanical industry in this line". McEntee's acting assistant secretary Walter Doolin pointed out that not a single Irish engineering firm had expressed any interest in assembling the tanks and by April the army conceded, with only one further complete tank being purchased from AB Landsverk. This purchase was delayed when the second tank was destroyed in an accidental fire during tests in Sweden and a number of years passed before the free replacement arrived in Ireland.Farrell, T. (1997). "The Model Army": Military Imitation and The Enfeeblement of the Army in Post-Revolutionary Ireland, 1922-42. Irish Studies in International Affairs, 8, 111–127. The Landsverks were still in use up until the late 1960s. One L60 is preserved in running order by the Army and the other is in the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin.

Leyland armoured car

The Leyland armoured car was based on a 6x4 Leyland Terrier lorry chassis. The first chassis was purchased from Ashenhurst of Dublin in 1934 and an armoured hull from an obsolete Peerless armoured car was modified and fitted. The new vehicle was tested and it was recommended that the twin Peerless turrets be replaced with a single turret. In 1935 3 more Leyland Terrier chassis were bought and the Landsverk L60 tank turret was selected in 1936 to replace the twin Peerless turrets, however it was not until 1940 that all four Leyland armoured cars were finished. The armament of the Leylands was a Madsen 20 mm cannon and a Madsen .303 machine gun. The Leylands entered service with the 1st Armoured Squadron alongside the Landsverk L180 and Irish-built Dodge armoured cars. In the 1958 the Leylands front hull was modified and were re-engined with Ford V-8s and .30 Browning machine guns replaced the Madsens plus another Browning was fitted in the hull next to the driver.

One of the Leylands was scrapped in the 1960s. In 1972 the 1st Armoured Squadron re-equipped with Panhard AML armoured cars and the three surviving Leylands joined the reserve FCA 5th Motor Squadron until they also re-equipped with Panhard AMLs in the early 1980s.

Landsverk L180 armoured car

Ireland ordered its first 2 Landsverk L180s in 1937 and were delivered the following year. 6 more were then ordered and they were delivered in 1939. A further 5 were ordered but could not be delivered because of the outbreak of the world war. These 5 were used instead by the Swedish army under the designation Pbil m/41. Irish Landsverk L180s were armed with a Madsen 20mm Cannon and 2 Madsen .303 Machine Guns. The Madsen machine guns were replaced with .30 Browning machine guns in the 1950s and the 20mm cannon was replaced in the 1970s with Hispano-Suiza 20 mm cannons take from former Irish Air Corps De Havilland Vampire jets. In 1956-1957 the Landsverks original Büssing-NAG L8V V8-cylinder petrol engines were replaced with 5,195cc Ford V8 type 317 petrol developing 155 hp at 3,200rpm. The refit also saw the installation of a hydraulic clutch, radio mountings and altered machine gun mountings to take .30 Browning machine guns supplied by the Air CorpsIrish Independent, 30 November 1982. and All Irish Landsverks belonged to the 1st Armoured Squadron and used alongside the Irish built Leyland and Dodge armoured cars until they re-equip with Panhard AML armoured cars in 1972. The Landsverks were then transferred to the reserve FCA units, five going to the 11th Motor Squadron, until they were retired in the 1980s. A Landsverk formerly of the 11th Motor Squadron was gifted to the Netherlands in a formal ceremony at the Curragh in November 1982.

GSR Morris Mk IV armoured car In 1940 a Defence Forces committee decided to build 8 improvised armoured cars on lorry chassis for the protection of aerodromes. The Army purchased eight second-hand Morris Commercial lorries and one was delivered to Great Southern Railways (GSR) workshops for them to build and fit an armoured body. The GSR Morris Mk IV armoured car had no turret instead the machine gun crew had to fire through loopholes. After the building of the first Morris armoured car it was decided to change the role of the planned new vehicles from aerodrome defence to the same role as a regular armoured car. For this role a better chassis and engine was needed than that of Morris Commercial lorries so the seven remaining improvised armoured cars were built on Ford chassis and were known as the GSR Ford Mk IV, they were transferred to the army's Supply and Transport Corps. The Morris Mk IV was disposed of in 1946.

GSR Ford Mk IV armoured car

The seven GSR Ford Mk IV armoured cars were also built by Great Southern Railways (GSR) and were similar to the Morris Mk IV but a turret with Hotchkiss machine gun also built by GSR was fitted. All the Ford Mk IVs were built and delivered in 1940. The army sold all 7 Ford Mk IVs in 1954.

Ford Mk V armoured car In 1940, Thompson & Son of Carlow built 14 Ford Mk V armoured cars. The Ford Mk V was cheaper and had better performance than the GSR Ford Mk IV armoured cars. The old Peerless armoured car turrets and their Hotchkiss machine guns were fitted. All Ford Mk Vs were sold in 1954.

Ford Mk VI armoured car

In 1941, Thompson & Son of Carlow built 28 more Ford armoured cars. 21 of the armoured cars were built on new chassis, and the other seven built on Ford lorries which had been withdrawn from service. These 28 armoured cars were similar to the Ford Mk V but had a Thompsons-built turret and the new vehicle was named the Ford Mk VI armoured car. The turret was armed with a Vickers .303 machine gun.

The first major overseas deployment of Irish troops was to the Congo in 1960, as part of the UN force ONUC. In 1961, an armoured car group with eight Ford Mk VI armoured cars was flown to the Congo. Three more Ford Mk VIs were sent out later that year to the Congo, two of which had their turrets removed and a pintle-mounted Bren light machine gun fitted in its place. The Brens on the two Ford Mk VIs were replaced in the Congo with Browning .30 machine gun. In 1962, the UN provided the Irish with twelve new Ferret armoured cars to replace the Ford Mk VIs. In 1964, six of the Ford Mk VIs were handed over to the Congolese Army.

The 17 Ford Mk VIs in Ireland were retired in the early 1970s.

Bren carrier

26 Universal Carriers Mk I were purchased in 1940. 100 Universal Carriers Mk II were delivered in 1943 and another 100 Mk IIs in 1945. The vehicles were referred to as 'Bren Carriers' by Irish troops. The first 26 Bren Carriers were grouped together to form the Carrier Squadron of the Cavalry Corps. The Carrier Squadron was disbanded in 1943 and its carriers distributed amongst the army's infantry battalions. All 200 of the Bren Carriers Mk IIs were used by the infantry battalions mainly for transporting its 3-inch and Brandt 81 mm mortars, ammo and crew. Later 2 Mk IIs were fitted with flamethrowers for use by the Corps of Engineers. A number were used in the late 1940s to tow 6 pdr anti-tank guns and 4 were used by the Cavalry School. The Bren Carriers were retired from service in the early 1960s. With 226 Universal Carriers in Irish service it is the most numerous armoured vehicle ever used by the Irish Army.

Dodge Mark VII and Mark VIII armoured cars