The Irish government have revealed a new Irish passport that has been redesigned with extra security features. Even with these new features the cost of production is about half of the current price.
The new security features will include holograms or motifs on individual pages. Holograms will show recognizable landmarks of Ireland such as the Cliffs of Moher, Rock of Cashel, the Aviva Stadium and Samuel Beckett bridge.
The cost of producing a new passport is $9.45 and the government estimates that they will save about five and a half million dollars. A government spokesperson could not say whether these savings would be passed along to the taxpayers.
A Tanaiste spokesperson said any passport processed by September 30, 2013 will be a new edition. The typical fee for a passport is about $108 and the passport is good for ten years. The new passport will be rolled out to citizens making applications early next month.
The newly designed passport follows closely after the launch of the redesigned driving license. A new plastic license was introduced in January to replace the old paper version. The change aims to increase road safety by making it more difficult for unlicensed drivers to forge a license.
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