More Irish than UK passports issued in Northern Ireland for first time

The number of Irish passports being issued in the North has surpassed their UK counterparts for the first time on record, newly obtained figures reveal.

Her Majesty's Passport Office in London has confirmed 48,555 citizens in Northern Ireland applied for a UK passport in 2020 - at least 356 fewer than those who opted for an Irish passport the same year (48,911).

Official figures on Irish passports in the region are only available for those issued through Northern Ireland Passport Express (NIPX), available through post offices, and do not include citizens who apply for their passports directly from Dublin.

The fresh records, released under Freedom of Information laws, confirm an escalating trend over recent years in rising applications for Irish passports, as numbers opting to carry a UK passport wane.

The year after the UK opted to pull out of the EU in the Brexit referendum marked a sharp turn towards people in the North preferring to travel on Irish passports.