The hard-line Tawhid and Jihad group took Bigley hostage, a 62-year-old engineer from Liverpool, on Sept. 16, along with two American colleagues who were beheaded a few days later.

According to a statement by Ahern, Bigley can claim Irish citizenship through his Dublin-born mother.

The minister said he agreed to a request from Bigley's family for the passport, saying that it was an attempt to indicate to the kidnappers that Bigley was as much an Irishman as British.

"Kenneth Bigley's family has asked for an Irish passport to be issued in order to help convince his kidnappers of his Irish citizenship," Ahern said in his statement. "I am happy to agree to this request and I, and the taoiseach and the government as a whole, very much hope that it will contribute to the efforts to secure his release."

Bigley was last seen alive in a video last week, pleading to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life.

A kidnapping economy is well established in Iraq, which has all but collapsed into anarchy in recent weeks despite the presence of the U.S. Army and attempts to move the country toward free elections in January.

According to a recent report by a Wall Street Journal journalist, criminal gangs have been kidnapping Westerners still in Iraq and passing them on at a price to insurgents, who demand a larger ransom or execute the hostage in a highly symbolic, videotaped beheading.

It is not known if the issuing of an Irish passport and thereby conferring Irish citizenship on Bigley will convince his captors to release him.

But it is certainly an attempt to present Bigley as Irish and therefore less an enemy of Iraq than a citizen of the United Kingdom, the foremost ally of the U.S. in Iraq.

On Sunday, Ahern told reporters that he would continue to use any influence the Irish government could bring to bear on the hostage-takers to release Bigley.

In Ireland there is a strong awareness of Bigley's Irish roots. And in Bigley's hometown of Liverpool, the large Irish community has joined with other groups to pray for his release.

Ahern said: "There are many people in Ireland who are worried about this situation. I have made contact with Iranian diplomats in Ireland and with the Jordanian government. Any pressure we can put on to be of assistance to the British government, we will use."