ALMOST 13,000 IRISH passports have been recalled by the Department of Foreign Affairs because of a printing error that could cause issues for people travelling abroad.

The recall affects 12,904 passports that were issued between 23 December 2025 and 6 January 2026, which were sent with the letters IRL absent from their data pages.

The issue occurred due to a software update and means that the affected passports are not fully compliant with international travel standards.

The department issued an apology on behalf of the passport service to those who are affected, and warned that those who hold the passports may have issues at airport eGates and border control when travelling.

They are urging those who were recently issued passports to check the date the passport was issued, which can be checked on the data page here:

DFA DFA

Anyone who was issued a passport between 23 December and 6 January is urged to return their passport (along with a passport card if one was issued) to the following address to receive an updated version: Passport Return – Customer Care Passport Service 42-47 Lower Mount St Dublin 2 – D02 TN83 Ireland.

The department also reminded anyone who is affected that they do not need to restart the process to apply for a passport, and said that the service will try to issue new passports within a maximum of 10 days.

More information is available here.