Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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All passport applications are subject to the provisions of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended. The Passports Act provides, among other things, that a person must be an Irish citizen before a passport can be issued to him or her. Entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by Irish law and in particular the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

The following figures reflect the number of passport applications received through all channels for the years requested:

Year	No. of applications received
2014	647,134
2015	680,442
2016	746,917
2017	786,688
2018	855,283
2019*	567,141

* To 30 June 2019 

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All passport applications are subject to the provisions of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended. The Passports Act provides, among other things, that a person must be an Irish citizen before a passport can be issued to him or her. Entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by Irish law and in particular the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

The numbers of first time passport applications received from applicants who were resident in Northern Ireland and Great Britain at the time of application for the years 2014 to 2018 and to date in 2019 are detailed in the following table.

Year	First time applications from Great Britain	First time applications from Northern Ireland
2014	5,672	18,067
2015	6,011	20,325
2016	18,263	29,923
2017	31,675	40,089
2018	22,386	40,226
2019*	31,099	47,645

* to 30 June 2019

My Department continues to closely monitor the level of passport demand to ensure that all resources, including staffing, are effectively deployed to meet the ongoing anticipated strong demand for Irish passports.