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

I am very aware of the pressures in relation to passports. Many people in this House have come to me directly on individual cases. We have also set up an Oireachtas support line that can help staff in Deputies' offices to deal with cases when they emerge.

This month we will have more than 100,000 passport applications to deal with, and this year we are planning for a possible 1.7 million passport applications. Just to put that into context, we have never hit 1 million applications before. Even at the height of travel before Covid, it was less than 1 million per year. Given that many families simply have not even thought about travel for the past two years and therefore may not have thought about passport renewal, we expect a dramatic increase. That is why we are investing significantly in more staff. By the end of March we will have approximately 1,000 people working in the Passport Office. That compares with approximately 465 in the middle of last summer. We also have extra footprint as well in terms of more office space.

As of Wednesday of this week, the Passport Office is operating as normal, with Covid restrictions having been removed. That will lead to a lot more opportunities for people who need urgent meetings with the Passport Office to get rapid turnaround times for passports. We are working hard in anticipation of what is already happening, which is a significant increase in the demand for passport renewals and for first-time passports. First-time applications, particularly for children, take longer to process because of security issues. We must ensure we address fraud, especially for first-time applicants. We have good systems in place in that regard but they do take a bit longer and the application process is more complicated in terms of the forms that must be provided with the online application. We are working hard to try to improve turnaround times for first-time applications as well.

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