A record 1,883 Australians applied for Irish citizenship in 2025, the highest annual total since electronic records began.
Already this year almost 800 Australians have applied for Irish citizenship through the Foreign Births Register. The Department of Foreign Affairs said last year’s figure was the highest annual total since electronic records began in 2013.
The Foreign Births Register allows individuals to apply for citizenship by descent, having an Irish-born parent or grandparent. Applications from Australia more than doubled between 2022 to 2025, department figures show.
The Irish passport ranks fourth in the world and allows people the right to live, work and travel freely within the European Union, as well as visa-free access to 186 countries, according to the Passport Index.
Kate McGuinness (33), born in Perth in Western Australia to Co Wexford-born parents, said she “always felt incredibly lucky” to have both Irish and Australian passports growing up.
“From a young age I experienced travelling freely to Ireland or Europe without visas,” she said.
McGuinness’s parents applied for Irish passports for her and her sisters as soon as they were born. “They have always reminded us to keep them renewed so we can maintain the benefits of dual citizenship. We travelled to Ireland often to visit family growing up, so it was important to them we maintained our passports and always kept those doors open,” she said.
“My sisters and I have all lived and worked in Ireland at some point in our lives.”
McGuinness’s parents left Enniscorthy for Australia in the 1980s and “immediately settled”, says Kate’s father Brian McGuinness (68). They made plans as soon as possible to get Australian citizenship and passports. However, on trips back to Ireland, he said they would travel with their Irish passports.
“Even in the 80s it was said our Irish passport was the most flexible travel document you could own. We arranged Irish passports for our children as soon as we needed, realising they too would benefit in time from the flexibility, especially if travelling back to Europe,” he said.
“It has allowed all three of our children to have the opportunity to spend a year or more of their lives living and working in Ireland, while I used my own Irish passport on work commitments in Europe, West Africa and the United States many times over the years.”
Taking advantage of her Irish passport and eager to explore more of Europe, Kate McGuinness relocated to Dublin last year while her parents remain in Perth. She says having dual citizenship made the process a lot easier and opened up further work opportunities “that I may not have been considered for otherwise”.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 2.4 million Australians identified as having Irish ancestry in the 2021 census.
The rise in demand for Irish citizenship through the Foreign Birth Register has led to longer processing times – of up to 12 months in some cases.
“Ireland is definitely my second home,” said Christina Moloughney (56), owner of Melbourne-based travel company Emerald Travel.
Moloughney was born and raised in Melbourne but her parents were from Co Tipperary and moved to Australia in the 1960s.
“The citizenship is everything; that Irish passport is so valuable. Even my niece and nephew can now apply for an Irish passport,” she said. “It’s one of the most valuable passports.”
Moloughney said she still travels to Ireland every year and that visa-free travel throughout the EU, as well as being able to work, is what makes the passport so desirable.