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

The Deputy is correct to keep raising this issue. As of this week, we have opened the Passport Office for people to get appointments for emergency passports for the first time in many months. People can apply for appointments online now to get a rapid turnaround of a passport and so on. It is only in recent weeks that we have had full staffing levels back in the Passport Office. I have visited the office. The staff are doing incredible work, given the pressure they are under in processing emergency passports and passports through the general system. It is true that we now have our staff back from the other Departments in which they were located for all the right reasons in terms of helping other Departments. I expect that in the next few weeks we will have far more clarity on the timeline for dealing with FBRs. I will make sure the Deputy is informed as soon as those decisions are made.

See this speech in context