SINN Féin Councillor Colly Kelly has said that calls for a Passport Office in the North are fully warranted and justified.
Speaking after the Irish Passport Office announced that a record breaking 700,000 Irish passports have been issued so far this year, he said:
“News that a record breaking 700,000 Irish passports have been issued so far this year shows that my calls for a Passport Office in the North are fully warranted and justified.
“An office in the North would greater enfranchise people across Ireland and help to ease the burden on staff.
“In June of this year I called on the Irish foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan to open a passport office in Derry.
“The British Government’s intention to drag the North out of the European Union leaves the island of Ireland facing potentially the most destabilising period since partition.
“Following the EU Referendum result the demand for Irish Passports in the North has only increased.
“The increase in the number of Irish Passport applications also reiterates that the Irish government has a duty to represent best interests of all Irish citizens in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.”