Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of appointments available for urgent passport renewal in Cork, Dublin and London, by month, in each of the years 2019, 2023 and 2024, by month; the number of which were availed of, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19730/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Passport Service has issued over 400,000 passports to date this year. The majority of simple online adult renewal applications issue within two working days and over 90% of applicants now apply online.

The Passport Service strongly encourages Irish citizens to use the Passport Online service as the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to apply for a passport. The Passport Online service offers Irish citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is available to 99.9% of all applicants across the world.

The public offices of the Passport Service in Dublin 2 and in Cork operate a four-day Urgent Appointment service for renewal applicants. The Dublin office also offers a one-day Urgent Appointment service. The London office offers a five-day Urgent Appointment service.

As of 19 March 2024, an additional 55 appointments per week have been made available to applicants seeking the same-day turnaround passport service in the public office in Dublin.

Renewal applicants who have already submitted a passport application either through Passport Online or Post Passport can book an urgent appointment and visit the Passport Office to apply for a passport. Once a passport has been issued, their original application will be cancelled and the fee will be refunded.

Further information on the Urgent Appointment service for renewal applicants is available at .

In the event of sudden bereavement or serious illness of a family member abroad, the applicant should contact the Passport Office and advise them of the issue. Priority is given to these applications by the Passport Service. In the event that such an occurrence should happen out of office hours, the applicant should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs on 01 408 2000 and request to speak to the Duty Officer. The Duty Officer will advise the applicant in full of the correct procedure. In cases of travel emergency, the Passport Service will require proof of the emergency.

Please note that the Urgent Appointment service became available in 2021. The number of urgent appointments available with the Passport Service, by location, by month and the number of appointments availed of, in 2023 and 2024 to date are outlined below in tabular form.

* Please note that there was a slight error in the number of four day appointments available in Dublin in November and December 2023 provided to the Deputy in the reply to PQ 14848/24 on 9 April 2024. This discrepancy has been corrected in the table above.