DUBLIN, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of the applications for Irish passports has witnessed a sharp increase since this year, reported local media RTE on Saturday.
The report, quoting the Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney, said that over 230,000 applications for Irish passports had been received to date this year.
The figure represented a 30 percent increase over the same period last year, said Simon Coveney.
The number of applications for Irish passports has seen a consistent rise since Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016.
Last year a record number of 860,000 Irish passports were issued, said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, adding that more than 70 percent of the 2018 applications came from those who live and work in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Last month the passport division of the Irish embassy in London issued a warning saying that staffing levels are not sufficient to meet the rising number of applications ahead of Brexit.
Simon Coveney said that "Given the demand we are experiencing, significant extra resources have been given to the passport service including hundreds of extra staff for processing and customer service."
Britian was scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. However, the Brexit date was delayed following a vote in the House of Commons of the British parliament on Thursday.
