DEMAND for Irish passports has surged by 10 per cent in the last year, with June’s Brexit vote a key catalyst behind the uptake.
In 2015, 672,760 were issued by the south’s passport service, compared to 719,675 in the year to December 13. It is projected that by the end of the year almost 740,000 Irish passports will have been issued.
The south’s department for foreign affairs and trade said that, prior to June, the 2016 European Championships, an increase in outward travel and increase in applications in 2006, which resulted in many passports reaching their 10-year renewal deadline, were behind the increase.
However, following June’s surprise Brexit vote, authorities in the south saw a huge increase in the number of applications by those who wanted to have an EU passport following the UK’s vote to leave.
Following the referendum result, DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr urged people in the North who had British passports to apply for a southern passport.
"My advice is if you are entitled to second passport then take one,” he wrote on social media.
"I sign off lots of applications for constituents. My advice is to take as many as you can especially if you travel to different world trouble zones."
In the Monday following the Brexit vote, the Irish embassy and post offices in the north reported they had received more than 4,000 enquiries relating to applying for a southern passport – compared to the 200 weekly calls they normally receive.
