THE IRISH Passport Office has revealed that a record number of Irish passports have been issued so far this year.
The office tweeted the milestone and said that 700,000 Irish passports have been issued to date in 2016.
“Wow, we have just broken a new record, over 700,000 Passports have been issued so far this year! #Recordbreaker,” they said.
In 2015, a total of 669,806 of the Irish identity documents were issued.
There has been an upsurge in the amount of applications from Britain since Britain voted to leave the EU in June.
An Irish passport would allow its holder to continue living and working freely within other EU member states in the event of Britain’s exit.
The latest figures available from the Department of Foreign Affairs show that a total of 635,635 applications for Irish passports were made in the year to October, compared to 566,142 for 2015.
Wow, we have just broken a new record, over 700,000 Passports have been issued so far this year! #RecordBreaker pic.twitter.com/Vg3rvJOutm
— Irish Passport (@PassportIRL) November 28, 2016
The increase of applications from Great Britain from 2015 to 2016 rose 20 per cent for the first half of this year, but spiked by 73 per cent in July and increased further to 119 per cent in September.
The increased slowed slightly to 70 per cent in October – with a total number of 58,015 applications for that month alone.
There has also been a large spike in applications made for Irish passports by citizens of Northern Ireland.
59,043 Northern Irish applications have been made so far this year, compared to just 46,396 for the whole of 2015.
The Passport Office and DFA are yet to release figures for November, but numbers are likely to continue to grow through the busy holiday season as applicants fill out their submissions before the year’s end.
Individuals with one parent or grandparent born in Ireland are eligible to apply for an Irish passport.
Applications in countries other than Ireland itself can be made in person through local Irish embassies and consulates or via a registered post.
