Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We are seeing an enormous and unprecedented level of demand for new passports and passport renewals at the moment. The Deputy will know of the problems that have arisen with regard to car parking at Dublin Airport. There is a lot of financial distress in the country but there is also a lot of money in the country and large numbers of people are travelling. It is important that we provide good turnaround times for passports. Believe it or not, our turnaround times are among the best in the world and the number of passports being issued is breaking all records. However, that is not to dismiss the fact that, very often, people will only realise late in the day that their passport is out of date and that there are delays in getting first passports in particular. The Tánaiste is very much aware of this, as am I because Deputy Ring reminds me on an almost weekly basis. We are doing everything we can to speed things up.

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