Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service does not maintain details of the current residence of passport holders. As outlined in the following table, the Passport Service can provide details of the number of passports issued, since 2008, to Irish citizens who were resident in the USA at the time of the passport application. The table also records the number of applicants since 2018 who were resident in the USA and who claimed citizenship through descent.

Entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by Irish law and in particular the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. All applicants must demonstrate an entitlement to Irish citizenship in their passport application.

With reference to citizenship by descent, an individual born abroad is automatically an Irish citizen if one of their parents was an Irish citizen born in Ireland. An individual can also claim citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who was not born in Ireland but was an Irish citizen at the time of the individual's birth.

*Jan. 1 to Sep. 30

Please note that the figures given above will include applications made via the online renewal system (where a USA address is indicated) and via the network of Irish diplomatic missions in the USA. Passports issued on foot of an application through a diplomatic mission in the USA will also include a relatively small number of passports issued to Irish citizens resident in the jurisdictions for which the USA mission network has secondary accreditation. At present, these jurisdictions are the Cayman Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks & Caicos Islands, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Antigua & Barbuda and the U.S. Outlying Minor Islands.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 103 together.

Table 1 indicates the number of passports issued annually, from 2014 to present, to citizens under 18 who were resident overseas at the time of application. The number of these applicants whose entitlement to Irish citizenship was derived by descent is also indicated.

Entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by Irish law and in particular the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. All applicants must demonstrate an entitlement to Irish citizenship in their passport application.

With reference to citizenship by descent, an individual born abroad is automatically an Irish citizen if one of their parents was an Irish citizen born in Ireland. An individual can also claim citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who was not born in Ireland but was an Irish citizen at the time of the individual's birth.

Table 1:

Table 2 outlines the number of passports issued annually, from 2008 to present, to citizens over 18 who were resident overseas at the time of application.

*Jan 1 to Sep 30 2018

An Irish passport issued to an individual over the age of 18 has a maximum validity of 10 years. An Irish passport issued to an individual under the age of 18 has a maximum validity of 5 years.

The eligibility of citizens to vote is a matter for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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No data is kept on the current residence of individuals who have been issued with an Irish passport. The following table outlines the number of passports issued, since 2008, to Irish citizens who were resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their application. An Irish passport issued to an individual over the age of 18 has a maximum validity of 10 years.

*1 January to 30 September2018

Between 1 January and 30 September this year the Passport Service received 60,452 passport applications from applicants resident in Northern Ireland. This compares to application volumes of 61,815 for the same period last year. While the volume of applications received so far this year indicates a slight decrease on applications compared with last year, the overall annual volumes of applications received and passports issued since the UK Referendum on EU membership in June 2016 remain significantly higher than preceding years.

The Passport Service monitors the overall volume of applications on an ongoing basis to ensure that resources are available to meet demand. Furthermore, the Passport Service has taken steps to proactively project future demand patterns with a particular focus on the potential contribution applications from Northern Ireland and Great Britain may make to overall demand.