Ms Siobh?n Byrne:

The complaints are larger this year and that is corresponding with the volume of applications we are receiving this year. Demand is very high. The complaints fall into two different areas: one is around the timeline for the issuance of passports and the other is around citizenship. I will explain what a passport is, in essence. When we receive an application, it is an application for citizenship. Some of those can be quite complex and we are not always able to issue, so some of those applications would also escalate to the Ombudsman. We have been working very closely with them to streamline our process between our office and that of the Ombudsman to ensure there is a streamlined system and we receive feedback from them as well that we bring into our systems.