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Irish passport: Record number issued in 2019

Matt Cardy/Getty Images Irish and British passportsMatt Cardy/Getty Images

A record number of Irish passports have been issued in 2019, with a 7% increase on the number from last year.

More than 900,000 Irish passports were issued over the course of the past 12 months.

Applications from Northern Ireland and Great Britain have been on the rise since the Brexit vote in June 2016.

This year more than 94,500 first-time applications were received from people born in Northern Ireland or Great Britain.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it was a "bumper year" for the country's passport service.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that during "peak periods" in 2019 it was receiving more than 5,800 applications a day.

It said the numbers of applications received in January, March, April and May broke previous monthly records.

The most popular surname on applications for Irish passports this year was Murphy, according to the department.