Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022
306. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of diplomatic and officials passports reported as lost and or stolen in the past 25 years to date in 2022; and the number of those passports lost or stolen that were recovered. [13082/22]
View answerDiplomatic and official passports are issued in accordance with the provisions of the Passports Act, 2008. Section 16 of the Act makes particular provision for the issuance of diplomatic passports to persons who hold a diplomatic rank or to persons whom the Minister for Foreign Affairs considers it appropriate to issue such a passport in order to carry out their duties. Official passports may be issued to an Irish citizen for the purpose of facilitating travel abroad in connection with the performance of official duties on behalf of the State. Applications are only approved for individuals who are Irish citizens and can demonstrate that they require a passport for travel to undertake official business on behalf of the State.
The use of diplomatic and official passports is restricted to travel on official State business. Personal passports must be used for all other travel.
In 2005, the Passport Service began maintaining electronic records of diplomatic and official passports issued. Records of diplomatic and official passports issued before that date are not available. Since 2005, a total of 29,279 diplomatic and official passports have been issued by the Passport Service. In that time, 319 diplomatic and official passports have been reported lost or stolen to the Passport Service. This figure represents 0.01% of the total number of such passports issued from 2005 to date. Of the passports reported lost or stolen, 18 passports have been subsequently found and returned to the Passport Service.
