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

I agree that better communication is the key. If thousands of people are trying to get through to the Passport Office at the same time, such volumes clearly make it impossible for the relatively small number of staff in the office to speak to everybody. It is important to note that changes for the better have been made in recent years. As a result of the use of technology and online systems, the vast majority of passports are being delivered on time or quicker than the anticipated turnaround time. Given that 500,000 passports have been issued so far this year, a huge number of people are affected if problems arise even in just 10% of cases. It takes time to talk through the issues. I am conscious that there are many repeat phone calls from people who are desperate to talk to somebody to get some certainty in advance of their holidays, business travel or emergency travel situations. We are looking at communications with a view to giving people the ability to get an update on the status of their passport applications within the system without having to contact politicians to get that information. While it is useful for Deputies to be able to assist in emergency situations, their offices should not be turned into passport processing offices. We are trying to put in place a system to deal with these matters in a much more efficient way.

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