CALLS have been renewed for the Irish government to open an Irish Passport Office in the North. The call comes as more and more people are facing setbacks in obtaining documentation needed to travel.

Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile, Sinn Féin’s leader in the Seanad in Dublin, has long been part of a campaign to press the Irish government to open an office in the North, where demand has recently increased phenomenally, partly due to the effects of the UK government’s decision to leave the European Union as a result of the Brexit referendum.

Speaking to the Andersonstown News the Short Strand man said: “I recently said to the Irish government, here’s an incentive to take over a vacant property [Belfast City Council’s ‘Vacant to Vibrant’ programme] and do something positive with it. All of the statistics and logic all point to the fact that we need an office in the North because of the demand, backlog and increase in applications. It’s a folly of the Irish government to not invest this service.”

In May 2022 it was revealed through freedom of information requests that Irish passport applications in the North had overtaken British passport applications for the first time. In 2020 it was found that 48,911 applications for Irish passports were made, compared to 48,555 for British ones. The figures also only showed applications which were made in the North, and not for people from the North living in the Republic, or elsewhere, which would increase the numbers further.

Niall Ó Donnghaile said: “The demand increased substantially after Brexit, and it’s increased again as we’ve come out of lockdown and more families are looking to go on their holidays.

"A passport office in the North would dramatically improve the infrastructure across the island, and that would have a knock on benefit across the island. I started a petition which has over 30,000 signatures calling for this service. I have spoken with numerous people who have lost out on holidays due to their passport being affected by the backlog.

"You can apply in the North from Post Offices, but the problem is if there is a delay, you can’t go into the Post Office to get it sorted out, you have to travel to Dublin or Cork to get it sorted out, and for many people in the North that means taking unnessary time off to solve issues which could be solved if there was an office on their doorstep.”

Despite the many people affected by the setbacks, Niall said it wasn’t the fault of the passport office, who he stated were first class and worked extremely hard, but it was more of a case that the workload had increased so much that it was getting impossible to stay on top of applications.

“I always say, the staff in the passport office are first class, but the demand has increased so much that it does feel like the Irish government have their heads buried in the sand regarding this issue. We have the opportunity to create a world-class service, and accommodate the increased demand. There is too much delay at the moment and it’s affecting a large number of people, who are paying for this service. It’s not cheap to get a passport, or get passports for your family, and I believe people deserve to get the service they’re paying for.”

Speaking on current developments to open an Irish passport office in the North, Niall said there was a current cross-party motion in the Seanad to move on the issue.

“I hoping the government take the cross-party motion into consideration, as it is backed by their representative in the Seanad also, and when we come back after the summer I hope it will be taken into consideration and that they will listen to their own members.”

On the ease of opening such an office, Niall stated the Irish government should have no problem with opening one, because they already own office space within Belfast.

“The Irish government own office space in Belfast, through Fáilte Ireland, the British-Irish Secretariat, and Leo Varadkar stated that no citizen in Ireland would be left behind, as per Article 2 of the Irish constitution.

"That surely must mean Irish citizens in the North can have access to Irish services, and for the first time ever more people in the North are applying for an Irish passport than a British passport, from people of all traditions and backgrounds, so it’s not the case that it would just be a service for one part of our community.

"The plan for an Irish passport office is right across society, for everyone. The Good Friday Agreement says people have the right to be British, Irish or both, and there’s no reason to be making it as difficult as possible for people to access those services.”