More than 100,000 Irish passports issued in the UK in the year to June 2017, up from 65,000 in 2016Demand for Irish passports in the UK has jumped by 50% since the Brexit vote, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and trade has revealed. Urging people to apply online to ease the burden on the Irish passport service, Simon Coveney said that just over halfway through 2017 the passport service had already issued more than 500,000 passports. In the four years to 2016, the service issued between 632,000 and 670,000 in an entire year. The rush for Irish passports reflects the desire of those who have Irish ancestry to keep their options open after the UK leaves the EU. In Northern Ireland, business was also brisk with 11,000 applications in March, 9,000 in April and 10,000 in May this year.

Source: The Guardian July 19, 2017 14:41 UTC