Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

In view of the back-logs being dealt with, I expect things to return to more normal patterns in due course. The advent of overtime and the recruitment of additional temporary staff has had a positive impact because the number of passports being issued per day now is in the region of 3,200, which is considerable.

The Deputy made reference to people queuing up and so on. We are saying, unequivocally, that the recommended method for submitting passport applications is via the passport express service, or the Northern Ireland passport express service, available through the local post office. We would recommend to people generally that this is the best and optimum methodology. Public counter or the wire services should only be used by those who have a necessity to travel for reasons of family emergency. All other applications should be submitted via passport express channels.

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