merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has welcomed the announcement that the Irish passport is ranked fifth highest in the world, in the Henley Passport Index, and fourth in Arton’s  global passport index.

These rankings measure passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.  Welcoming this announcement, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney T.D., stated

‘I am very proud to see the Irish passport ranked fourth and fifth respectively in two prestigious global rankings.  The ranking demonstrates again the value and power of the Irish passport and how well it is regarded internationally.’ 

Congratulating staff of the Passport Service, Tánaiste Coveney stated that this announcement also brings attention to the highly secure nature of the Irish passport. It reflects the major efforts undertaken at all levels of the Passport Service to protect the integrity of the passport and to ensure it continues to be a secure travel document, while also meeting the challenges of increases in application numbers and the need for technological advancement.

The Passport Service has invested in a three year comprehensive Passport Reform Programme running up to 2019.  This ambitious programme has seen major technological, customer-focused changes in the past few years.  In particular, the Passport Online Renewal Service, which was launched in March 2017, now allows adults renewing their passports to do so anywhere in the world, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  The system is user-friendly, secure and applications are currently being processed in less than the target 10 working days, plus postage time.

Tánaiste Coveney took the opportunity to remind everyone to always check their passports before booking flights and to consult the Passport Service website https://www.dfa.ie/passports for further advice on the application system and the most suitable application channel to suit their needs.