Thousands of Irish passports are stolen every year, with fears that a high percentage are sold on the black market for use as fake ID.
Figures released by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern reveal that 5,910 Irish passports were stolen in 2006, while a further 32,820 were lost or mislaid. The number of passports stolen in 2005 was 5,900, while 31,500 were lost or mislaid.
Mr Ahern told Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe in a written Dáil question that the introduction of the biometric or e-passport last October has greatly enhanced the security features of Irish passports.
"The presence of a microchip, containing a digital image of the holder, has, for instance, meant that any photo substitution can now be more readily and easily detected."
However, Mr O'Keeffe told The Irish Times he was "taken aback" by the figures, and a lot more needed to be done to cut down on the thefts. "I hadn't realised the extent of the numbers stolen. It's an enormous figure for a relatively small country."
While he accepted that the introduction of the e-passport had made the documents more secure, more steps needed to be taken by the passport division of Foreign Affairs to reduce theft.
A passport has an enormous value on the black market for organised crime, and an Irish passport in particular is regarded as a valuable document.
A Garda source told The Irish Times that Irish passports could command premium prices, and were in demand by criminals and people-traffickers. Passports sold on the black market could be used as fake ID.
Other figures released by Mr Ahern show that 630,000 Irish passports were issued around the world in 2006.
One of the reasons for the high rate of passports being lost or mislaid is because young people use them as ID when going to the pub.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said the Government had spent €6 million developing the e-passport and €25 million on a new passport plant at Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
"The Department of Homeland Security in the United States recognises that the Irish passport is one of the most leading in the world and is now virtually tamper-proof and people can feel far more secure."