Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be able to address the Dáil on this important issue. I apologise for the absence of the Minister, Deputy Coveney. He is abroad on important State business.

The passport service has been the subject of much public interest in recent weeks, as always. A passport is a very important document. As a Member of the House, I am fully aware of the number of requests for assistance with passports received from constituents every single day. I also fully support the right of citizens to contact Deputies to make inquiries on their behalf when they have difficulties dealing with any State agency, including the passport service. It is a basic function of our democracy. The level of demand for passports is not unique to Ireland, and there are similar stories playing out in other jurisdictions, but we will concentrate on our own issues today.

There is a large demand for passports at present, given the removal of Covid-19 travel restrictions. Many people are getting away, whether for leisure or for work, for the first time in a number of years. The passport service is at present processing about 25,000 applications per week, so the number is high and there is a continuous stream of new applications every single day and a large dispatch of completed passports being sent out every single day. In 2015 the passport service issued 650,000 passports, all in response to paper applications. There was no online option at that point. By the end of June of this year we will have reached the same number of passports, so it could be said, and we are saying, that the number has doubled. In fact, it has more than doubled.

As with many Government services, Covid-19 presented extraordinary challenges to the passport service. I thank those officers in the passport service who were in work in the middle of the pandemic to deal with emergency applications which had to be granted at different times. In addition, many staff provided consular assistance overseas. Even during the level 5 restrictions, there were staff physically there to deal with those urgent situations. Since May 2021, staff have been working on site full-time. That presented its own difficulties in making sure the workplace was safe during periods of Covid challenges and restrictions.

Despite everything, 634,000 passports were issued last year. Understandably, there is pent-up demand. That is accepted. Based on our forecasting models, we initially thought and we said publicly that the passport service would receive 1.7 million applications this year, and we began to plan accordingly for that. We saw huge demand from September to December of last year, so that number has now been revised down to 1.4 million, that is, we expect 1.4 million applications. That is still an extremely high number of applications. It is the highest ever received in any year. The Department has therefore increased its resources to address the increased demand for passports. We have dramatically increased the number of staff assigned to the passport service. A major recruitment drive has been under way over recent months. There are 340 extra staff in the service since last June. Recently, the passport service completed its own recruitment competition for temporary clerical officers. I thank them for their work and for offering to work because, in an environment of high employment, it can be difficult to get people to fill such temporary roles. Many of the first officers recruited from that competition are from my constituency because the Passport Office has a facility in Balbriggan. The interviews have concluded and the first officers began work on Monday of this week. Officers recruited from the competition will continue to be assigned as we get them, to deal with applicants' queries on the customer service hub and to work on the applications. This means that there will now be 900 staff in the period ahead. That is double the number last year.

An important point to make, which I think every Deputy will accept, is that it is the statutory responsibility of the passport service to protect the integrity of the Irish passport. It is an important document. First, each application, and especially each new application, has to be checked very carefully. In addition, time and effort has to be given to bring on board new staff and to train them in this process.

I have received queries about particular passports where it transpired that the person simply was not entitled to one, or that a parent simply had not consented despite the fact that the form purported to show that he or she did. A number of cases every year, although I have no specific examples, are referred to An Garda Síochána in relation to that. The point I am trying to make is that a level of checking must go on, particularly in respect of first-time applications, to make sure passports are issued properly. We all accept that. We want it done as efficiently and as quickly as possible, but we accept that.

Measures have been taken to improve processing times. New video tutorials have been released to assist citizens in submitting the correct photos and consent forms. They are there to help, because there is certainly an issue in this regard. The passport service needs to continue to make this area as easy and user-friendly as possible. Like every Deputy in this House, I know there is a significant problem in this area. There has been intensive training of new staff and upskilling of existing staff to deal with complex applications and, particularly, with first-time applications.

In relation to the prioritisation of first-time applications, increased resources and overtime have been allocated to process these applications in order to reduce processing times. A new document management system was put in place in the passport service at the beginning of March. Its aim is to improve the processing speed in the passport service and the subsequent turnaround times for applicants. One particular feature of the new system improves the processing time for applicants who have been asked to submit additional documents. We want to see that going quicker. In my opinion, it is still not fast enough. To be fair to the passport service, it has taken measures to make that happen more quickly. That is certainly a bone of contention for citizens who are having difficulties with the service.

I am aware that issues arise when the passport service is unable to verify the consent of a Garda witness for a child’s consent form. This is a common issue. All Deputies will have encountered it in our constituency offices. I have been talking about it too. I am glad to have the director of the passport service here in the Chamber, although she is obviously not taking part in the debate. She is here to hear the feedback and to advise me.

In order to protect the integrity of the passport and the right of people to passports - let us not get away from the fact that it is the right of an Irish citizen to have a passport - it is important to make sure parental consent is verified for first-time applicants. Quite frankly, if one child abduction were to be carried out on a fake passport or on a passport that was obtained incorrectly, all of the queries in the world about delayed passports would be quickly forgotten. There is a balance to be struck between making sure this is done right, making sure no mistakes are made, making sure everyone who is entitled to a passport gets one as quickly as possible and making sure nobody who is not entitled to a passport gets one. I think Deputies appreciate that balance.I have been talking to Deputy Ó Cuív. I will not pre-empt what he will say, but I think he will make suggestions on how to make that even more efficient. I have already passed them on to the Passport Office.

What people should know about witnesses to passports is that there is a long list of people who can witness them. In most cases, you do not have to go to a Garda station. People should look at that as well. The passport service is actively engaging with An Garda Síochána to streamline this process. There were meetings last week and this week to try to reduce the difficulties that are being encountered in contacting some Garda stations that are not manned full time. I would ask people to bear that in mind when they are seeking witnesses.

Since 2016, there has been a reform programme to modernise the passport service. The stand-out achievement of this programme has been the introduction of the Passport Online service to customers. I want to pay tribute to a former legal adviser in the Department, Mr. James Kingston, who was on the co-ordinating committee for introducing and improving passport services. He died some weeks ago. I pay tribute to him for his work, particularly on passports. Passport Online has been introduced. If we could send one message from this Chamber, it would be that people should only apply for a passport online. They should not apply by paper. That is the most important message.

The Passport Online service is dealing with 90% of passport applications, including first-time applications. No application must be submitted on paper. I have told the passport service that many of my constituents have gotten the impression from websites, such as citizensinformation.ie, that first-time applications somehow have to be dealt with on paper. That is not true. Every single application may be done online, including an application for a child’s first-time passport. I strongly urge people to do that.

The pandemic has placed constraints and pressures on the service. The Passport Online service has definitely helped things. We would be a lot worse-off without it. In addition to Passport Online, the reform programme has introduced other changes. You can apply for a passport card as well as a passport book. This is an important document, particularly in the European Economic Area and the EU. An integrity unit has been established to strengthen our anti-fraud capacity. That helps to move along the regular 99.999% of applications that do not need to go anywhere near that unit. It helps to ensure that the Irish passport remains one of the strongest, most respected and most useful passports in the world.

The focus on digital services has allowed the passport service to collaborate across government. For example, passport applicants can now use utilise the government-wide MyGovID as an optional service when applying for a passport. The digital transformation of the passport service has continued at pace during a period of unprecedented turbulence in the external environment, including with Brexit, which has led to a huge shift in demand over the last number of years.

In the next three years, the Passport Office will continue its programme of reform, change and further enhancements. This will include the transformation of the technology that underpins the system and the back-up of systems that are an essential part of the efficiency of it, but will also help to prevent fraud and other attacks. The technological upgrades are also essential to stabilise and support the improvements for citizens at home and abroad and the roll-out of the Passport Online service has already been delivered.

The Passport Online service, which we are urging every single applicant to use, has brought about tangible changes for the citizen. The existing back-office processing system has remained in place for almost 20 years. We now need to implement a new application processing system. The project is at the early design phase and the new system will be substantially operational in the passport service in the next two years. The new system will complement the customer-facing advancements that have already been achieved through the Passport Online service. It will ensure that the passport service remains resilient and agile in response to future passport demand as our population continues to grow.

The passport reform programme will also encompass the redesign and modernisation of the passport book and card, as well as the replacement of existing passport personalisation machinery.

There are a number of steps that people must take. We have all fallen foul of these from time to time. People should check their passports before booking travel. Over the years, it has happened that I discovered problems very late. This is especially the case with kids who have not had a passport before. You need to apply online, full stop and no exceptions. The Passport Online service is the fastest and most efficient way to apply for a passport. It pains me to tell people not to go to a post office, but in this case they really do need to apply online.

For renewal applications, the Passport Online service is up to four times faster than a postal application. The process is very friendly and straightforward. I had a situation where a constituent of mine was travelling. He rang on a Sunday night and he was travelling later in the week. He could not get an emergency appointment online. I acknowledge that can be difficult too. I suggested to him that he should try to apply online on the basis that in my experience, there was a reasonable chance that the passport would come. It came. He got the passport later in the week, simply by using the ordinary online channels. That will not be the case for everybody, but it will be for many people. He did not need an emergency appointment or any intervention from anybody. He was able to do that.

Sometimes, part of our role as Deputies is to give the best possible advice. I am trying to do that here, so that it can be amplified by Deputies all around the country. We are trying to make the forms as user-friendly as possible. There are some people who make mistakes, although that is not to blame the citizen. That can be a problem from time to time. There is just no getting away from that. It is not all citizens. The level of mistakes is not as high as has been reported in the media.

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