What does the Aviva Stadium have in common with the Cliffs of Moher? Well aside from both drawing in vast crowds daily to marvel at attractions and awe inspiring sights (modern rock gods, sporting stars vs wild untamed seascapes forged eons ago– take your pick) both now also are featured in a redesign of our Irish passport.
Launching the new passports in Dublin recently the Tánaiste (Irelands deputy prime minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore noted that“Irish passport holders travel more often and to more destinations than at any time in the past. In 2012, we issued over 600,000 passports to Irish citizens around the world. I would urge Irish citizens to check the validity of their current passport and to apply for a new book well in advance of any travel.”
In the new passport the focus is as much on design with a celebration of our culture, landscape, history and people as it is on extra security using the most up to date security technology. Expect to see images of our newly-built architectural landmarks in Dublin such as the Aviva Stadium and the Samuel Beckett Bridge, alongside the landscape along the river Liffey taking in the Dublin Convention Centre, the Custom House and Liberty Hall through the harp strings of the Samuel Beckett Bridge as well as timeless iconic images of Ireland such as the Rock of Cashel, Croagh Patrick and the stunning perspective of the Cliffs of Moher in the new Irish passport book. Accompanying these beautifully recreated images of our national landscape and landmarks are poems from three of this island’s finest poets: Nuala ní Dhomhnaill, William Butler Yeats, and James Orr.” Not only that, but the new passports also include verses in Ulster Scots and for the very first time will feature a map of the entire island.
The combination of photographs and drawings, commissioned solely for use on the Irish passport, are then reproduced with specialist printing techniques to ensure that the Irish passport is both beautifully rendered with distinctive Irish design and yet most importantly is highly-secure.
This newly redesigned passport will soon replace the existing passport, which has been in circulation since 2004. So if you live nationally and are traveling or are away from home be sure to check out the new passport, which with its apt design will remind us wherever we are of the many beautiful and unique cultural and natural sights and attributes of our country proving why it’s a great destination for an Ireland vacation.