Absolute Graphics complete work on the new Irish passport

THE new passport – which features iconic images of Irish culture and landmarks on each page – was launched today. Absolute Graphics have spent over a year developing this special project.

As well as the new design, the passport will be very secure, and would be very hard to forge or copy. Launching the passport in Dublin, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore commented;

“We have combined the latest security technology with selected imagery in order to produce a passport which represents Ireland – our culture, our history, our people,” he said.

Among the images on the passport pages are Croagh Patrick, the Rock of Cashel, as well of images of people playing gaelic games.

Also featured is poetry from WB Yeats, Nuala Ni Dhomhmaill and James Orr.

Other landmarks featured are Kylemore Abbey, the Aviva Stadium and the Samuel Beckett Bridge over the Liffey, with the Custom House and Dublin Convention Centre in the backdrop.

Half-form images of 14 different river gods – like those on the Custom House and Liffey bridges, in Dublin city centre – are at the edge of each page.

The images only fully form when two different pages fold back on each other, and Mr Gilmore says this is an additional security feature.

The passport book was designed and produced in Ireland by a consortium led by security printers DLRS, based in Bray, Co Wicklow; HID Ireland of Baile na hAbhainn, Co Galway; and the Central Bank.

However, the main designers of the images on the passport was a team from Absolute Graphics in Bray.