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

I know that people are frustrated because, in the absence of international travel for nearly 18 months, many are now checking and realising that their passports are out of date, but they want to plan their holidays. We understand what is contributing to the dramatic increase in demand, which will continue right the way through next year. We are taking on more people, but access to more people has not been the primary problem. The challenge has been in being able to get people into the office safely and expanding the physical footprint of a secure passport office that I can stand over in terms of its security operation. Both of these matters are being addressed. I have walked through the new physical footprint of the Passport Office, which is being fitted out at the moment to plan for next year and the extra people that we will take on and who will be factored into our Estimate.

I cannot give the Deputy an answer as to whether we will open an office in the west. We want to get our existing office infrastructure open. We have to open in Cork and we have only just opened the office in Dublin for emergency passport delivery. If we are going to go beyond that, it has to come from a process of assessment within the Department, but I do not have a closed mind about the idea.

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