The Irish Government has been called on to open a passport office in Derry.
Calling on new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, to open an office in the city, Sinn Fein Cllr Colly Kelly said three offices in Derry had been “inundated” with calls in recent weeks from people looking for assistance with Irish passport applications.
Cllr Kelly added: “As well as people making new applications, it’s not unusual for elected representatives to have been dealing with a number of people who have been seeking replacements for lost or out-of-date passports.
“On many occasions people have to travel to Dublin to collect their passports in time for their holidays.
“The staff at the passport office work very hard and are always accommodating but they are under a lot of pressure, particularly at this time of year.
“It is high time that an Irish passport office is opened in the North to deal with the huge volume of applications here.”
Revealing Sinn Féin would be writing to Mr Flanagan calling for an Irish passport office to be opened in the North, Cllr Kelly concluded: “There are passport offices in Dublin and Cork and another office in Derry would be of great assistance to applicants from all over the north of Ireland.”
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Notes
Sinn Féin ascertained in 2013 that over 125,000 people from the North applied for Irish passports over a three-year period.
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