Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and also the Minister of State for attending to listen to us raise this significant issue for people. Obviously, passport services have had to be decreased and the Passport Office closed for this period. What I want to ask about is the contingency planning for reopening. There is a significant backlog in excess of 80,000 applications. We were getting queries at an early stage where some people concerned had genuine life-and-death emergencies where they needed to access a passport. I thank the Passport Office for facilitating people in those situations.

Over time, however, it can be seen that the balance and the pressure on people, through their human experience, has been different. I refer to situations such as requiring a passport to open a bank account or to apply for or accept a college place, for example. These more natural things have revealed themselves as the pandemic has gone on. We need to know the contingency planning for addressing this situation quickly. What are we going to do to ensure we can address this backlog? Will there be longer working hours and more working days? How are we going to ensure we get the passports to those people who will need them in the coming months?

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