Fraudulent passport applications ‘running at 30-a-year’

FRAUDULENT applications for Irish passports have totalled about 375 in the past 12 years, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Documents obtained by the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act show between 1992 and 2002, the Passport Office had identified 250 cases.

However, an additional 125 suspected fraud cases may have been uncovered since then.