Irish passport applications to top one million post-Brexit

The number of Irish passports to be issued this year is set to pass the one million mark, driven by a ‘Brexit’ surge in applications from Britain and Northern Ireland.

This follows Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan confirming that 250,000 applications have been received for the first quarter of this year — a 26% increase on the same period last year.

The first quarter this year coincided with the British Government taking significant steps towards ‘Brexit’ and the Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the number of Irish passport applications made between January and the end of March by those born in Great Britain increased by 69% to 23,181 on the corresponding period last year.