The Department Of Foreign Affairs has announced that 2017 saw a record 779,000 Irish passports issued throughout the year.
Among these figures, 494,297 were issued to adults and 284,887 were issued to children. The statistics also reveal the five most popular names for each gender based on passport applications for infants in 2017.
They are as follows:
Boys
Jack
James
Conor
Daniel
Adam
Girls
Emily
Emma
Aoife
Grace
Sophie
Fair play to all the Jacks and Emilys for reigning supreme for 2017. Speaking about the new passport figures, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, T.D said:
“This is the highest number of Irish passports ever issued in one year. It represents an increase of over 6% compared to 2016 (itself a record-breaking year), and an increase of over 15% since 2015.
“The number of applicants from Northern Ireland and Great Britain has continued to rise. Overall, almost 20% of the total number of applications received by the Passport Service this year were from Irish citizens in Northern Ireland or Great Britain.
“The Passport Service has continued to innovate in how it delivers its service, with an ambitious reform programme to meet the unprecedented demand for passports from Irish citizens at home and abroad, and to continuously strengthen systems guarding against fraud and protecting the integrity of the Irish passport.”
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