Irish Passports in Demand as U.K. Prepares for Life After Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- Ireland issued a record number of passports in 2017, boosted by demand from Irish citizens living in the United Kingdom.

The government issued 779,000 passports this year, an increase of more than 6 percent from 2016, the foreign affairs ministry said in Dublin on Friday.

About 20 percent of applications were from Irish citizens in Northern Ireland or Great Britain, the ministry said. The U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union has raised concerns that its citizens could lose the right to live and work in Europe without restrictions, and an Irish passport is seen as a method to retain access to those rights.

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.