Demand for Irish passports doubles

The number of Irish passports issued in Britain is set to almost double this year compared with the last full year before the EU referendum, Ireland’s ambassador to the UK has said.

Dan Mulhall put the surge in demand down to the Brexit vote, with Ireland remaining inside the European Union.

Around 50,000 Irish passports are usually issued in Britain each year, Mr Mulhall has previously said.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m responsible for our passport operation here in Britain and for the five years up to last year the demand was pretty flat, and last year it rose by 40 per cent.

“That rise was all in the second half of the year so we have to attribute that to the impact of last year’s referendum.

“So far this year we’ve seen another increase and it looks as if we are going to be close enough to doubling the number of passports this year compared with 2015, which was the last pre-brexit year.

“So there has been a significant rise, not just in Britain but also in Northern Ireland.”

He said 500,000 Irish passports were issued to applicants around the world in the first half of 2017, “well up on our previous numbers”.