Calls for the opening of an Irish Passport office in Belfast have been given cross party support in the Republic.
The move came as Belfast Seanad member Niall Ó Donnghaile gained signatures from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and independent Senators for a motion calling on the Irish Government to “consider as a matter of urgency opening a passport office in Belfast”.
The appeal for the office comes amid ongoing pressures on the passport service over long delays in processing applications with people missing holidays after being unable to obtain new travel documents in time.
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Mr Ó Donnghaile cited the fact Tánaiste Leo Varadkar recently said the Government is “looking at the possibility of an additional passport office in the west of the country”.
Last month Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said across three days in one week, the passport office printed and issued 21,000 passports, an average of 7,000 every day which was “responding to unprecedented demand”.
The Belfast Sinn Féin representative’s motion states: “That Seanad Eireann calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, in light of the current backlog and volume of applications on the island of Ireland, including an unprecedented number from Northern Ireland, to consider as a matter of urgency opening a passport office in Belfast”.
In a tweet, he added that the motion has “signatories from SF, FF, FG and Independent Senators” and that the “growing momentum behind this call and the clear need for such an office can’t be ignored by Government any longer”.
Mr Ó Donnghaile told Belfast Live the “need” for a new office is clear and that the Irish Government “shouldn’t delay any more”.
He added: “There is a clear and identifiable need for an office in the north. Leo Varadkar said they are considering opening one in the west, and I’ve no issue with that, but they should do the same in the north. They should accept the need is there and just get on with it. Constituency offices across the island, and in the north, are being inundated with people concerned about delays in getting their passports.”
Last month a motion was passed by the Derry City and Strabane District Council, stating its support for the establishment of an Irish Passport Office in Northern Ireland.
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