A record number of over 550,000 Irish passports were issued in 2003, it was announced today.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said the number of passports issued by the offices in Dublin and Cork was 465,000, up by over 15,000 on last year.
The total number of passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, at home and abroad, this year will be over 550,000. This is 20,000 more than last year and more than double the number of passports issued in 1996.
During the peak demand months of May to July this year the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork issued over 182,000 passports, almost 3,000 daily.
Mr Cowen said that 70 per cent of all passport applicants in the State used the 'Passport Express' service. This allows people to apply at over 1,000 post offices throughout the country and receive their new passport within 10 working days.
Last March, this service was extended to a number of post office branches in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Over 10,000 passports were issued through this scheme.
Mr Cowen said a new automated passport system will be introduced in Autumn 2004, and new purpose built passport production facility is nearly operational in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.