LAST UPDATE | 13 Oct 2023

BELFAST CITY COUNCIL has voted to pen a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs to request that the new Irish passport design includes images from Northern Ireland.

SDLP councillor Gary McKeown made the call in the local authority and said that the design should be inclusive of the whole island of Ireland, not just the Republic.

In June, the public were asked for their say on the new Irish passport design, which is the first redesign of the Irish passport in over a decade.

The short online questionnaire asked the public to consider which Irish flora and fauna should be included in the inner pages of the new passport.

As well as communicating Irish culture and values, the passport redesign will include new security features.

McKeown believes scenes from Northern Ireland should be included on the new design as well.

“There is a huge number of Irish citizens living in the North and it’s only right that locations in this part of the island are included,” he said in a statement today.

The current version has scenes from across the Republic, but not the North. That’s not right. This isn’t about politics – it’s about respect and recognition.”

McKeown noted that the redesign will focus on the natural environment and made a few suggestion of his own – the Giant’s Causeway, the Glens of Antrim and the Mourne Mountains.

“I see no reason why some of our most outstanding sites of natural beauty couldn’t be featured,” McKeown said.

“We have places like the Giant’s Causeway, the Glens of Antrim and the Mourne Mountains on our doorstep and they should be considered alongside other parts of the island.”

People in Northern Ireland can avail to both an Irish and a British passport, as set out as a right to the citizens in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

McKeown believes that the passport should reflect that right and respect the identity of those in the North by including imagery from the region.

“I have got committee support for council to write to the Department of Foreign Affairs requesting that locations from the North are included in the new edition,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the new design is expected to be launched at the end of 2025.

They told The Journal: “The Department is currently working to identify the design aspects of this new passport book. 

“The recent survey provided all citizens across the island of Ireland and overseas with an opportunity to input into that process,” they added.

“The Irish passport is available to people right across our island, so it’s important that everyone feels represented and I think it would be a significant gesture to include the North in this redesign,” McKeown said.

Since launching in 2013, the current Irish passport has been recognised as a highly trusted and secure travel document.

It ranks sixth in the Henley Global Passport Index, providing citizens with visa-free access to 187 countries.