Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In an effort to get the process back on track, there was no bank holiday Monday for the staff in the passport offices. They were in working, trying to get the turnaround times back to where we wanted them to be under the target threshold. There is a considerable commitment to making up for the shock to the system that came with the severe weather, which resulted in the passport offices having to close for two days.

We are seeing an unprecedented number of applications. There was a significant increase last year on the year before and it looks like there will be another significant increase this year. We are gearing up to deal with that. Last year, we introduced many reforms to use technology more efficiently. More and more people are using the online system, which we will expand this year to all passport applications for children as well as adults. We are responding to increased demand and shocks to the system. I encourage everyone who is listening, including parents and families, to please check their passports early in the year so that they can get renewals when they are required instead of approaching us at the last minute and interrupting the whole system, since we must stop the process to pull out a passport for someone on an emergency basis, which slows the system down for everyone else.

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