Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will double-check that I am correct but my understanding is that of the 858 staff, approximately 133 are temporary clerical officers. I will double-check the split between temporary and permanent staff.

I thought the Deputy might have a particular interest in Cork so I checked and found that 117 staff are working in the Passport Office in Cork. It is not possible to have any more staff in Cork because the building is now full. However, the second bit of good news I have for the Deputy is that there are plans to move the passport service in Cork to a new building. I believe that will be ready next year, which will give us an opportunity to further expand our footprint and staffing numbers in Cork as there is need and demand for that.

From budgetary and staffing points of view, I am satisfied we are in a good place. We will review this if we need to step up a bit. We can do that but at the moment, all of the projections are that staffing and demand are aligned. We need to continue to keep a very close eye on that.

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