Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The long and the short is we are working on this. Technology and the digitisation could be an important part of that. Occasionally, I do hear the issue of how to take the correct photograph that is acceptable. I do not mean to trivialise this because it is important we help people. We have a good video on the website to which I would refer people. Customers can vary greatly in the level of assistance they might require but people can also phone the customer service hub for assistance. We get about 10,000 queries weekly on average to the passport service customer hub between phones and webchat. They are not all about how to take the photograph but that gives an indication of how busy it is.

The Belfast office comes up quite a lot. I am conscious of our obligation to our citizens in the North. We always keep these things under review but I would make the point, which may not be very dissimilar to that of the Deputy, that so much is online that the location of the physical office becomes less important. That is my gut view on this. Last year, for example, 93% of all applicants wherever they were in the world used passport online. Our records show that only between 1% and 2% of all passport applicants turn up at a Passport Office for the urgent appointment service. The big investment we have been making is moving more stuff online rather than opening new offices.