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

Those were very different days in terms of numbers. We are currently delivering 5,000 passports a day to people in Ireland. Last month, 170,000 passports went out successfully. This year, we will do about 1.4 million passports. The highest figure in any other year was about 900,000. We are talking about passport demand increasing by approximately 50% in a year. This summer, we will have 900 people in the Passport Office. Last summer, it was 460. This year, we have a special phone line for Oireachtas offices. It has been under pressure and we are adding more people to it today. It has taken well over 10,000 calls so far this year, however. Obviously, we are also looking to put more people on the public call line and the webchat service. We are upscaling by putting far more people in to respond to a massive increase in demand, but we also rely on the public to make sure the applications are online and accurate, where possible. The problems are nearly always linked to first-time applicants. Of all renewals, 43% are given back within 48 hours. It is important to focus on the positives as well as the negatives.

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