John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the measures being put in place to ensure that there will be no unnecessary backlog in the issuing of passports in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4614/23]

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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67. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the Passport Office is prepared for the influx of passport applications for this spring and summer (details supplied). [4615/23]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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The year 2022 was an unmitigated disaster when it came to the handling and issuing of passports. It saw many families, unfortunately, missing out on their holidays due to chronic delays in the issuing of passports. What lessons have been learned from last year's mess? More importantly, what actions will be put in place to ensure people get their passport in a timely manner and that we do not see a repeat of some of the scenes from last year?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 67 together.

Last year was an exceptionally busy year for the passport service, with over 1.085 million passports issued. This represents the first time in the history of the State that over 1 million passports were issued in a calendar year. The passport service surpassed its previous busiest year of 2019, when 935,000 passports were issued. The year 2023 is set to be similarly busy. In recent weeks, there has been a marked increase in applications received, signifying that the next busy season for passports is commencing. Applications have increased from an average of 1,400 per day in December to almost 5,000 per day in recent weeks. The majority of online renewal applications are currently being processed in three working days or less.

Thanks to significant investment by the Government and the dedicated work of the passport service staff, substantial improvements were made in 2022 and full normal service was restored. All processing times for applications are in line with normal pre-Covid processing times.

In recent months, my Department has been planning to ensure that demand for passports continues to be met in 2023 with target processing times maintained throughout the year. Staffing of the passport service to respond to demand continues to be a priority for my Department in 2023 and is kept under constant review. My Department ran 15 competitions in 2021 and 2022 to address staffing needs in the passport service. New office space on the Balbriggan campus is now open and provides more than 200 additional workstations to accommodate the increase in staff numbers. The focus on intensive training and upskilling of staff in 2022 has increased the resources available that can process complex applications, such as first-time child applications.

My Department is also actively working to assign new staff to the passport service throughout the first quarter of this year. Approximately 100 successful candidates from a temporary clerical officer competition run by the Department are currently going through the Garda vetting process and will be assigned in the coming weeks and months.

The passport service's customer service hub saw a record-breaking 2,615 calls answered on Monday, 23 January. Currently, 100% of calls received are being answered. The staffing plan for 2023 aims to ensure that excellent customer service is maintained during periods of peak demand. Passport Online can be used by 97% of applicants across the world for both first time and renewal applications. The Passport Online service is four times faster than paper-based applications for adult and child renewal applications. Over 90% of applicants now apply through Passport Online.

The passport service is pursuing a digital first strategy, which promotes Passport Online as the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to apply for a passport. The focus of our current communications campaign for winter-spring 2023 is to highlight the benefits of the digital-first approach, in that Passport Online is the most efficient way to apply for one's passport. The campaign also reminds citizens to check their passport is in date.

Indications are that the campaign is having the desired impact. January application numbers to date in 2023 have increased by 24% when compared with the same period in 2022. Additionally, we have seen a 245% increase in website traffic to dfa.ie/passportscompared to early December, prior to the campaign. The passport service's website is regularly updated to ensure that clear information is given to applicants regarding the documentary requirements for their application, including in relation to a change of name.

I am confident the staffing and accommodation measures implemented, along with other improvements, will continue to have a positive impact on passport processing times for 2023.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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First and foremost, I pay tribute to all the staff in the passport office who did exceptionally good work in very difficult circumstances. When I say "difficult circumstances" I mean the failure to prepare and foresee what was coming post Brexit. There was always going to be a surge in the number of people looking to travel post Covid and we did not have the proper people or resources in place to deal with what was a predictable increase in passport applications.

I welcome some of what the Minister said in regard to the increase in workforce, the increase in space on the Balbriggan site, as well as the online information campaign, of which we are seeing the benefits. However, there are still challenges with how first-time child passport applications are processed, in getting members of the Garda to witness the application, and the Garda contacting witnesses, which was a huge problem last year.

That needs to be addressed. Will the Tánaiste touch on that? This involved witnesses via An Garda Síochána and caused huge problems. The other area is getting to talk to a real person, so will the Tánaiste tell us how many additional staff have been deployed to man the lines and the hub to respond to people's concerns?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the Deputy's comments on the staff in the passport service. We now have 763 people working in the service, which is the largest number ever employed. We are committed to maintaining and improving that level, if we can.

The Deputy is correct. There are issues relating to the role of An Garda Síochána, which is an essential part of the verification process. There are certain passport applications that require forms to be witnessed by a member of An Garda Síochána. We appreciate the work of An Garda Síochána in that respect. It is a vital element in terms of the identity and consent verification process for the passport service.

During the peak period for passport demand in 2022, a system was established between the passport service and An Garda Síochána to verify applications in cases where the Garda signature could not be verified by calling the Garda station. This new system assisted in reducing the number of applications that were delayed due to a failure to verify witness details. During the busiest summer months, an average of 15 applications per day were verified in this manner. We are constantly looking at ways to innovate, improve and make the system more effective.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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What analysis has taken place? I asked the previous Minister a number of times about increasing capacity, that is, opening new passport offices. I appreciate that a lot of the demand is online and that is where we are trying to drive people, but there will always be the need for people to walk into a passport office. What analysis has been done regarding opening a new passport office somewhere in the State? What analysis, if any, has been done on opening one in the North? Last year saw for the first time a significant increase of more than 128,000 passport applications - new and renewals - from the North, of which 50,000 were brand new. There is a real need for a passport office in the North. What analysis has been done on opening an additional office in the State and one in the North, where there is significant growing demand?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Of the 1.1 million, 11% were from Northern Ireland, but 90% of those were online. The approach of the Department has been digital first and to encourage and incentivise more and more people to go online because it is the most convenient, quickest and least expensive channel for applicants. People have made representations in respect of new passport offices in Northern Ireland and the west, but the online approach is working very effectively and has allowed for the centralisation of passport processing, resulting in greater efficiencies for the service and customers. The majority of passport service operations take place at the newly expanded Balbriggan campus, which now has capacity for 500 staff. Up to 90% of applicants from Northern Ireland applied for their passport online last year. There are passport offices in Mount Street and Cork, which have public counters and offer urgent appointment services. We keep all this under constant review, but at the moment, the push is towards the digital first side.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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A significant amount of time was spent in all our offices to get passports through on time in 2022. Difficulties include the Passport Office timeline differing from what is available online. I am calling for additional resources to be provided to address the backlog in processing passports. Will the Tánaiste confirm whether postal applications from 2022 are still on the system from 2022? I believe that is the case. If there are, how long will it take to clear the backlog given the number of people who are there at the moment? What is the Government going to do address the situation for people waiting on a passport since last year?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I am very concerned about how many of our nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare workers are going abroad to work. It is the hopelessness I can see in them when I meet them that is the biggest issue. When is the Government going to tackle the issue of our healthcare workers leaving this country? The reason I know this is the case is because they are coming to us for help with their passport applications so they can leave this country when our health system needs them so badly. When is the Government going to tackle the problem and keep our health workers here? This comes from them coming to me for help with passport applications so they can leave the country because they see no future here with the way the health system is run.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is more a question for the Department of Health, but I would make the point that-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The Tánaiste was Minister for Health once.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I was, once upon a time. Thousands of people are coming into the Irish health service every year. I recently attended an event relating to nursing for very sick young children and met two young nurses who had come back from Australia to work in the service in Ireland. It was a foreign NGO but it highlighted for me that the traffic is two-way. These were young Irish nurses who had been in Australia and had now decided to come back to Ireland

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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And they turned around and went back home again.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No, these particular nurses are here. I accept that others go out.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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After coming home.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The health world has always been highly mobile. We must do more to attract and create better working conditions in our health service to retain staff there. That is important.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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They came home for the call and now they are going back.