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

The Deputy will be aware that the operations of the Passport Office were severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as were many other government services. Emergency passport services were maintained during the pandemic. That required staff to be on site to process and issue passports. As a result of well-implemented safety protocols, 67,000 passport books and cards were issued between January and May of this year.

Since the beginning of the year, the passport service has issued almost 450,000 passports and passport cards. More than 4,500 FBR applications have been processed in cases of exceptional urgency. The customer service hub team has had contacts with more than 80,000 customers via webchat and phone.

The passport service is currently experiencing high demand for first-time passports. Of the 130,000 applications currently on hand, 60% are first-time applications. To protect the integrity of the passport system, such applications require careful processing to validate the identity of the applicant and his or her entitlement to Irish citizenship for the first time. Additionally, in the case of children, consent of all guardians must be validated.

In line with our continued scaling up of services, the Passport Office on Mount Street resumed its urgent appointment service for renewal of passports on Monday, 27 September 2021. This service is available to people who unexpectedly require their passport to be renewed at short notice and opt for this fee-based service to do so. Currently, 99% of the passport service staff involved in customer service and the production of passports are working on site. When I visited the Passport Office recently, I saw at first-hand the high quality of service our passport staff provide to Irish citizens.

My Department is working closely with the Public Appointments Service to recruit temporary clerical officers to support expanded passport service operations in the coming months. We expect and are planning for a dramatic increase in the number of passports we will need to deliver next year. The previous high involved approximately 1 million passports in a year. We expect that figure could be 50% higher next year because of the lag period as a consequence of Covid.

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