Exhibition explores 100 years of the Irish passport

RTÉ News​

11-06-2025

A new exhibition has opened at the Irish Emigration Museum to mark the centenary of the Irish passport.
The exhibition, called 'On the Move', tells the stories of the country's "most travelled document".
EPIC historian Dr Catherine Healy said the establishment of the passport was an important moment for Irish sovereignty, "showing a commitment to engage with the world as an independent nation".
Dr Healy said that the museum wanted to ask questions such as "what does the passport tell us about Ireland's relationship with the wider world," and it also wanted to explore its role in the lives of people who have used it.
EPIC asked the public for any stories they had about their family's passports and many of those stories are on display in the exhibition.
"We know what the passport means to Irish people at home and abroad," Dr Healy said.
"We wanted to feature tales of migration, the diasporic connection and also capture some of the human stories too," she added.
Liz Cassidy responded to the request and explained that her grandparents used their Free State passports to go on their honeymoon in Algiers in the 1920s.
Her grandfather, Thomas Healy, born in 1895 and died in 1957, was issued with a document which identifies it as a passport from Saorstát Éireann.
"It was a proud day when he received it because he had fought for freedom from British rule, with the Irish volunteers during the War of Independence," Ms Cassidy said.
"My grandfather was one of Michael Collins' trusted intelligence officers in west Cork," she said.
Thomas Healy retired from the army in early 1923 and returned to his family law practice in Skibereen.
"His passport tells the story that has filled the gaps in our family history," Ms Cassidy said.
He renewed his passport in 1926, and under the "observations" section, a note indicates his intentions for "travelling to Algiers".
He and his new wife, her grandmother Helen Grennan, born in 1897 and died in 1973, were planning their "exotic honeymoon in north Africa".
Also featured in the exhibition is former Leitrim hurler Zak Moradi.
He received his first Irish passport at the age of 30.
His family came to Ireland as political programme refugees in 2002.
"I am from Kurdistan and was born in a refugee camp in Iraq," Mr Moradi said.
"I got into hurling in 6th class, and though hurling is a kind of difficult game to play, I liked the challenge," he said.
Mr Moradi went on to describe the process of obtaining an Irish passport and said "it took a bit of time to apply to become an Irish citizen, because I didn't have a birth cert".
It is not an easy process, he added, but "when you get it, it's worth it".
Mr Moradi said that the passport gives him "an identity and tells where I belong".
"I'm still learning that I can travel and learn all these new things because of it," he said.
"I never thought when I was in the refugee camp that this would happen for me, but within 20 years, your life can change completely," Mr Moradi added.
The exhibition runs for the summer at EPIC.