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

I pay tribute to the team and all of the staff working at the passport service. It has issued 450,000 passports to date this year and is on track to have issued half a million passports by the end of this month. Virtually all complete passport applications are being processed within advertised turnaround times.

The passport service is well-staffed and in an excellent position to deliver on the demand forecast for the rest of this year. Ensuring that we have enough staff to respond to demand is a priority for me and my Department and is kept under constant review. The passport service currently has 830 staff, including 40 officers who were assigned in April. A further 16 staff are due to be assigned in the coming weeks.

In situations where applicants have booked travel and need their passport renewed urgently, the public offices in Dublin 2 and in Cork operate a four-day urgent appointment service for renewal applications. The Dublin office also offers a one-day urgent appointment service. In March, the passport service made an additional 55 one-day appointments per week available in the Dublin office. Therefore, there are now 220 one-day appointments and 264 four-day renewal appointments available in Dublin and 280 four-day renewal appointments available in Cork every week for citizens who need to renew their passports urgently.

First-time applications are too complex to process at a public counter as they are, in essence, verifications of Irish citizenship. As such, a rigorous process is in place to validate the identity of applicants and to confirm their citizenship status.

With regard to passport collection, this can be facilitated in emergency situations. However, given the efficiencies of the passport online service, once the passport is printed and dispatched, it will generally be with the applicant through the post on the next working day. I encourage everyone to apply online through passport online, which offers citizens the ability to apply for their passport 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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