THE PASSPORT OFFICE on Dublin’s Molesworth Street is set to move to a new location towards the latter end of next year, the Tánaiste said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of the new-look Irish passport at its current offices yesterday, Eamon Gilmore said that the Passport Office would be “moving on” in the coming months.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is examining possible new locations in the city centre in conjunction with the Office of Public Works.
A spokesperson for the DFA confirmed that it would be towards the latter end of next year that the move would take place with no firm plans or a moving date yet established.
Gilmore also said yesterday that the security features of the new passport are “very strong”. Three years ago fake Irish passports were used by suspected Mossad agents to assassinate a Hamas leader in Dubai.
In response to questions yesterday, Gilmore said that the new passport’s use of imagery would help ensure it cannot be replicated easily with security “significantly enhanced”.
The Tánaiste also said that the cost of the new passport would remain the same despite the overall cost of production coming down by around €7 per passport.
He said that some “additional capital costs” will be incurred in the updating of printers to produce the new-look document.
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