Irish Passport Card Wins Prestigious ID Security Industry Award
16 March 2016Minister Flanagan welcomes prestigious award for the Irish Passport Card
Minister says that Ireland is taking a leading role in implementing measures to improve global passport security
Minister encourages travellers, particularly those planning on travelling to France for Euro2016, to apply for Passport Cards
The Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Mr. Charlie Flanagan TD, has welcomed the awarding of the Best Regional ID Document to the Irish Passport Card at the High Security Printing Europe Conference held in in Bucharest from 14-16 March.
Speaking from New York, where he is representing the Government at the annual St. Patrick’s Day events, Minister Flanagan said:
“The awarding of this prestigious industry award to Ireland for the Passport Card, which I launched last October, is a significant and well-deserved peer- acknowledgement of an Irish-led and Irish-designed project. I would like to extend my congratulations to all involved in the development of the card and in particular DLRS and Absolute Graphics of Bray, HID Ireland of Baile na hAbhainn and Purple Pod of Navan.
“This award recognises that Ireland is at the cutting edge of technological and security developments in the increasingly important and challenging area of identification documentation. As we prepare to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and to promote Ireland’s interests across the globe, the award is also a timely reminder of what Irish-led creative thinking and innovation can achieve at a global level.
“Ireland previously won this award in 2014, for the new Irish passport, and yesterday’s award is yet further confirmation that Ireland, and the Passport Service of the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, is taking a leading role in implementing measures to improve global passport security.
“The Passport Card has already been a huge success, with 17,500 cards issued since last October, and I would hope that this award and acknowledgement of its technological and security features would encourage more people to apply for a card.
“I would like to take this opportunity to particularly encourage the many thousands of people who will be travelling to France for the Euro2016 finals in June to consider applying for this very user-friendly card.”
