Record-breaking one million Irish passports issued for the first time in a year

Foreigners whose parents or grandparents were born in the Republic can claim citizenship

Irish passport holders enjoy unrestricted travel throughout the EU (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A record-breaking one million Irish passports have been issued to citizens so far this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs has announced.

The Irish Foreign Ministry tweeted on 1 November: “Despite a challenging year, the Passport Service today issued its 1 millionth passport in 2022.

“This is the 1st time over 1 million passports have been issued in a calendar year.”

In 2019 the Department of Foreign Affairs announced over 900,000 passports had been issued over the course of that year, which was the highest number recorded to date.

That number dropped to over 400,000 in December 2020, with the sharp decline in applications due to ongoing Covid restrictions.

By 2021, the number issued per year had risen to over 634,000 in correlation with the gradual relaxation of rules before travel fully reopened again in 2022.

Foreign residents may claim Irish citizenship and apply for an passport if they have Irish parents or grandparents, providing their family’s citizenship and residency meets certain requirements.

Data released in spring 2021 showed that passport applications had rocketed in the years following the Brexit vote, with 422,000 passport applications made in Great Britain in the years 2016 to 2020.

However, the news of record Irish passports issued comes after ongoing criticism about application delays in the country earlier in the year.

On 27 January minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney said: “Passport Service operations were severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, as were many government services.”

At this point it was announced that a significant number of staff would be added to the Passport Service over the following months.

By March there was still an average turnaround of 40 working days per first-time passport application.

Today, the Department of Foreign Affairs says over 90 per cent of Irish passport applications are currently being processed within the specified turnaround times.

This ranges from an estimated 10 working days for simple renewals and 15 working days for complex renewals to 20 working days for first time applications.

Both new passport applications and renewals can be accessed online, with The Irish Foreign Ministry saying “Passport Online is the quickest and most efficient way to apply for a passport.”