Increase in application figures expected at the start of July

THE Department of Foreign Affairs says figures for applications for Irish passports will be available at the start of next month and they are expected to show a huge increase in the numbers of people from the North and Britain applying for them.

In the meantime, Senator Terry Leydon, who last week called for consideration to be given to the establishment of an additional office to deal with these applications and told the Argus he will raise it at the next meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, of which he is a member.

The Roscommon senator said: ‘When I saw that Ian Paisley Junior had said that people in the North who are entitled to have a second passport should apply for one and that he was available to sign applications, I have to say I fully concurred with that.

‘I would be advising people in Britain and the North to apply for an Irish passport before Article 50 is invoked. Over 90,000 have been issued to people in these areas over the last ten years and I believe that when the next figures are released, they will show a huge increase in the numbers following the decision of Britain to leave the EU’. Senator Leyden said there is ‘ a very long wait’ for passports to be issued at the moment. He said: ‘I would like the department to consider separating these applications from the ones in the Republic and open an additional office, preferably in Dundalk, as it’s particularly close to the border’.

Senator Leyden said that those from the North and Britain who already have British passports would not have to give it up to get an Irish one and will be able to hold two.

He said: ‘An EU passport will certainly come in handy for those who want to travel to Spain on holidays, for example, and don’t want to have to through the non EU passport checks, which are often much longer’.

In response to a query from the Argus about Irish passport applications from people outside the 26 counties and the possibility of a passport office being opened in Dundalk, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: ‘It is too early to assess the extent of any increase. Figures for applications in June will be available in early July.

The vast majority of passport applicants on both sides of the border submit their passport applications through the Post Office network on this island. This is the most efficient and cost effective way to apply’.