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

I propose taking Questions Nos. 32 and 67 together.

The Passport Service is currently in its peak season for passport demand with the vast majority of applications being received between February and August each year. More than 500,000 applications have been received to date. For the first five months of the year, applications received are up by more than 8%.

The service monitors the volume of applications on an ongoing basis to ensure that resources are available to meet demand. To respond to anticipated application increases and to seasonal demands, the service received sanction for 220 temporary clerical officers, TCOs, this year to be appointed to the passport offices in Dublin and Cork. These TCOs are working together with permanent staff to process passport applications and to deal with the high number of inquiries being made through service's various customer service channels.

The Passport Service is meeting its target turnaround times for certain categories of applicants and I acknowledge that there are delays in other categories. For example, for applicants who have used the online passport application service, the target turnaround timeframe of ten working days plus postage is being met and, in 50% of cases, applications are being processed in five working days plus postage. The target timeframe of 15 working days for Passport Express renewals and Northern Ireland Passport Express renewals is also currently being met.

The Passport Service acknowledges that for certain categories such as first-time applicants and applicants with lost or stolen passports, processing is taking longer due to additional security checks. I am sure the Deputies will understand that first-time applicants require additional security measures, including robust identity verification and entitlement checking and as a result can take longer to process. Babies and children applying for their first passport also fall within this category and in cases where other family members have submitted renewal applications alongside the first-time application, all applications will be linked in the system and will only be dealt with once the necessary checks have been completed on the first-time passport. This has caused particular problems for families.

The Passport Service is doing everything to ensure passports are processed as quickly as possible. In addition to the intake of TCOs and the use of targeted overtime, experienced staff from across the Department have been redeployed to process applications and respond to customer queries. I understand that more than 30 people in the Department have been redeployed to the service.

A central element of my Department's approach to managing increasing application volumes has been the implementation of service improvements to minimise the impact of unusually high application volumes on turnaround times. The passport reform programme is delivering major upgrades to technology platforms and business processes as well as significant customer service improvements. The online passport application service, which was launched last year, will continue to make a major contribution to the effective management of exceptionally high volumes by allowing existing resources to be more effectively deployed within the service. I expect that by the end of the year this online service will also be available for renewing children's applications, which will be a major step forward for families. I encourage all applicants wherever possible to renew their passports using the online renewal service.

I am satisfied that the combination of delivery upgrades to the technology platforms and application process together with the recruitment of adequate TCOs and the reallocation of resources from other divisions on a temporary basis is sufficient to meet demand during this peak season for thePassport Service. I also acknowledge that the service has not been what we would like it to be for the past number of weeks. The staff have been doing a heroic job given the extraordinary volumes with which they have had to deal. We are reviewing how the peak period is being managed this year to ensure we learn lessons for next year. Once we get over the peak demand period, which is coming to an end, the Deputies will find that the process will be much easier.

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