DONEGAL has one of the highest figures for new passport applications this year, new figures show. After the country’s four biggest cities and the three satellite counties around the capital, no county had more passports issued than Donegal. It had some 9,891 new passports issued to it between January and June, according to the figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Over 50,000 passports were issued in the North, with over 500,000 issued in total across Ireland during the first half of the year. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced that all Irish passports issued from June 2026 have a newly designed passport featuring an Irish wolfhound.