Your Irish passport is an important legal document. It is evidence of your identity and that you are a citizen of Ireland and a citizen of the European Union. Your Irish passport should always be kept in a safe place when you are at home and when travelling abroad.
If your Irish passport is lost, mislaid or stolen and you wish to obtain another, there are important procedures you should be aware of;
If you have lost your Irish passport for the first time, you cannot simply obtain a “replacement passport”. Instead, you must apply for a new Irish passport (and you will have to pay the full cost of this passport). If you have lost your Irish passport for a second time, you can apply for a new passport, but it will only be valid for one year. You must pay the full fee for this passport. After the year has expired, you can then apply for a new Irish passport and you must again pay the full cost of this passport. Your new passport may be issued only for a restricted period at the discretion of the Passport Office You should be aware that immigration requirements in some countries require your passport to be valid for a certain amount of time before you can enter another jurisdiction. We are unable to include information on the passport validity requirements for every country in the world. Contact your air carrier/travel agent or the embassy/consulate of the country to which you are travelling, to verify this information. Remember to do this, before you travel.
Losing your Irish passport in Ireland
If you are an Irish citizen living in Ireland and have lost your Irish passport, you must report the loss of your passport to the Passport Office immediately. In order to obtain a new passport, you must first complete Section 6 of the APS 1 form. Order an APS 1 form here here or you can obtain one from your nearest Garda Station or Post Office. This form must be witnessed/countersigned by a member of An Garda Siochana.
After you have obtained your form, you must give a full and clear explanation as to the loss. You must resubmit all the supporting documents required with a normal passport application again to the Passport Office. These documents include the full long form birth certificate, a marriage certificate (if applicable), two passport sized photographs, etc. Read more about how to apply for an Irish passport here.
If you lose your passport and do not declare this in your application, it will be discovered when the application is being registered at the Passport Office. Staff in the Passport Office will then query your application and overall, this can substantially delay your application.
Losing your Irish passport abroad
If you are an Irish citizen currently living abroad, travelling or on holiday abroad and your Irish passport is lost/stolen/misplaced, etc., you must contact your nearest Irish embassy or Consulate immediately. If you are currently in a country where there is no Irish representation, you may contact an embassy/consulate of another EU Member State who will contact the nearest Irish embassy on your behalf.
You must also get in touch with the local police and request a written statement that you have reported the loss of your passport. A member of the police authority in the country in which you are staying must witness this statement. You will require this to obtain an emergency travel document or a temporary passport from an Irish embassy/consulate. Again, if you are currently in a country where there is no Irish representation, you may contact an embassy/consulate of another EU Member State. The embassy or consulate of another EU Member State cannot issue you with a replacement passport or an emergency travel document. Instead they will get in touch with the nearest Irish embassy or consulate on your behalf, which will then get in touch with you.
In certain circumstances, for example if you lose your passport abroad but will be returning on a single journey directly to Ireland, an “Emergency Travel Document” rather than a passport will be issued by the Irish embassy or Consulate. Emergency Travel Documents are only valid for one journey. An Emergency Travel Document is not a passport; it is a document (about A5 size) that carries your photograph and a stamp from the embassy verifying your identity. It is not machine-readable. Emergency Travel Documents are generally issued very quickly (depending on the circumstances) and there is a fee for this service.