Dedicated portal for MLAs to deal with queries regarding Irish Passports welcomed by Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd has Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s confirmation that he agreed to open a dedicated portal.

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He said: “Last year there were 128,000 passport applications from the north. 50,000 of these were first time applications. Mr. Martin has confirmed that at this moment in time applications from the north are consistently running at approximately 10% of the total number of applications received by the passport office.

“This new service will allow MLAs for the first time to contact a communications hub in the passport office in Dublin on a dedicated portal line to follow up on enquiries from citizens in the north who have submitted applications for Irish passports.

“While this represents an important development, there is a need for an Irish passport office in the north to deal with the volume of applications.

“Sinn Féin will continue to apply pressure on the Dublin government to achieve this."