Newly designed Irish Passport featuring iconic images of Ireland is launched in Dublin. Picture shows Dublin Passport Office worker Karen Griffin who was the face of the 'test run' of new passports aka 'Lauren O Sullivan ' surrounded by specimen copies of the new passport at the printing room in the Passport Offices,Dublin

For the third year running the Germans have the most powerful passport in the world, granting its citizens visa-free access to 177 countries.

The Germans are followed closely by Sweden, whose passport grants its natives to 176 nations, according to research from citizenship firm Henley and Partners.

The maroon passport of the Republic of Ireland ranks quite highly as the sixth most powerful in the world, sharing the honour with Canada, South Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland, all of which have access to 172 countries.

The Visa Restrictions Index was created with visa restrictions effective as of January 1 of this year. The firm monitored countries on the 219 destinations its citizens could head to, making the highest attainable score 218.

Take a look at the top 10 below:

1) Germany, 177

2) Sweden, 176

3) Finland, France, Italy, Spain, UK, 175

4) Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, US, 174

5) Austria, Japan, Singapore 173

6) Canada, Ireland, South Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, 172

7) Greece, New Zealand, 171

8) Australia, 169

9) Malta, 168

10) Hungary, Czech Republic, Iceland, 167

Online Editors