Record passport year: The new Irish

One of the unintended consequences of the Brexit vote was that 200,000 Irish passport applications were received from Britain this year.

The number from England, Scotland and Wales was up by more than a fifth compared to 2017.

Out of the passport applications received this year, 84,855 came from Northern Ireland and 98,544 applications were received from Great Britain.

These figures represent an increase of 2% and 22% respectively making 2018 a record-breaking year. A total of 822,581 travel documents were issued.

That was not the only céad míle fáilte metric to shine brightly last year.

Over 10,000 people were granted Irish citizenship in 2018. Justice and Equality Minister Charlie Flanagan announced that 10,158 people — including 3,136 children — got citizenship in 2018.

The figures bring the number of new Irish citizens welcomed since the introduction of citizenship ceremonies in 2011 to over 120,000.

Another swing inspired by that vote is that the number of UK nationals obtaining Irish citizenship increased from 41 in 2015 to 665 in 2018.