MORE THAN 330 passports have been seized at Irish ports and airports since the beginning of last year, while 5.4 per cent or 17,135 of the 320,000 passports issued this year have been reported lost or stolen, according to the latest available statistics.

Figures released this week from the Department of Foreign Affairs reveal that 5,002 passports were reported stolen in 2008 and 31,262 reported missing. This represents 6.3 per cent of the 577,000 new passports issued last year.

Up to June 30th this year, 14,713 were reported lost and a further 2,444 reported stolen, according Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern. He said that records on the Garda Pulse system showed that 199 passports were seized last year while 132 passports were seized up to July 5th this year.

Denis Naughten (FG, Roscommon-Leitrim South) had asked in a written parliamentary question this week about the number of forged Irish passports seized at the State’s ports and airports last year and this. Mr Ahern said information on the Pulse system “does not indicate whether the passports seized are Irish or from other jurisdictions”.

However Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said: “Records at Interpol Dublin indicate that some 87 Irish passports listed on the Interpol database as reported lost or stolen were detected at immigration points in 2008.

“A further 77 instances of such passports being presented arose in the period January 1st to July 2nd, 2009.

“The majority of such incidents concern circumstances where a person had reported a passport as lost or stolen, obtained a replacement passport but subsequently recovered the previous passport and continued to use it,” Mr Martin added. “These cases are generally resolved quickly through inquiries with the Passport Office.

“The increased frequency of such occurrences is due to an increase in the number of ports and airports carrying out checks against the Interpol database.”

Mr Martin said that serial numbers of all lost, stolen and mislaid passports were reported to Interpol through the Garda on a weekly basis. The introduction of the biometric passport, which contains a digital image of the person that cannot be altered, “has greatly enhanced the security features of the Irish passport”.

Mr Martin told Mr Naughten in a written parliamentary reply that “the notes accompanying passport application forms state that persons should not attempt to travel on a passport which has been reported lost or stolen.”