Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no backlog as such. We are meeting turnaround times. Passport applications are being processed in line with normal turnaround times. As I said, 2022 was an exceptionally busy year with more than 1,085,000 passports. This year, 2023, looks like being similar, with 61,000 passports issued to date. About 56,000 fully complete applications are in the passport service system, including 10,700 paper applications. They are not considered outstanding because they are being processed in line with normal turnaround times. There will always be people applying. The issue is how quickly we are turning them around. They are now being turned around within the normal timeframe. The turnaround time for passport applications does not begin until the required supporting documents have been submitted.

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