FIRST time applications from adults wanting Irish passports poured in from Antrim and Down this year in unprecedented numbers, with only Dublin posting higher figures.
Applications by adults from Antrim hit 7,405 while the number from Down was 5,080, likely many in both counties with addresses in the greater Belfast area. These numbers are far higher than any other county on the island.
In Dublin, there were 9,214 such applications with Cork the next highest on 3,201.
Parents also applied for their children for the first time in large numbers in both counties. All the other counties also posted higher numbers than those with comparable populations in the south, an analysis of a report by Dublin's Passport Office reveals.
Applications for Irish passports from Northern Ireland soared year on year, with close to 50,000 people asking for the first time for one in 2022.
Asked about the increase, a Department for Foreign Affairs spokesperson said: "The department does not speculate on numbers of applications received from different counties."
Just under 128,000 applications for renewal and first time were received, the vast majority online. The number of online applications increased from 63,615 to 110,852.
However, the total numbers for 2020 and 2021 were much lower due to the pandemic, around 50,000 applications.
In 2019,107,000 renewals and first time applications from the north were handled by the Passport Office, compared to 110,000 for British passports.
The UK does not routinely break down passport applications by region but following a Freedom of Information request, the Irish Times reported that in the first two months of this year there were 24,000 applications for Irish passports compared to 6,000 for British.
The Brexit effect is being cited as one reason for the increase in applications with many in the region wanting to take advantage of EU citizenship. For example, in 2016 the number of applications was under 70,000.
Overall, a record number of Irish passports were issued in one year, with 1,080,000 given out in 2022 from 1.3m applications.
.
The number of first-time passport applications from Northern Ireland and Great Britain was 100,000 out of more than 1.15 million total applications received.
The Irish Passport Service announced in November that it had reached the millionth mark in November, breaking the previous record of 935,000 in 2019.
Applications were also received from the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France, Spain, Germany and South Africa.
Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Michéal Martin said these were "extraordinary volumes" of applications and passports issued.
"This was a direct result of pent-up demand due to disruptions to travel throughout 2020 and 2021. The Government made significant investment over the year to scale up services to meet this demand," the Tanáiste said.
