James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that passport applications that are unsuccessful are not looked at until the end of the "estimated issue date"; the reason the applicant could not be informed of the problem within the first week of the Passport Office receiving the application in order to speed up the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19890/23]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I want to ask about and bring to the attention of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the passport applications that are unsuccessful and the administrative issue that arises where an unsuccessful application is notified quite late in the process. The process does not necessarily allow applicants to amend the errors and there is a lack of an efficient and effective system in place should they wish to correct the errors and get their passports on time, which causes disruption in travel. Do the Department or the Minister have any feedback on that matter?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We are in the busy season for passports, as citizens prepare for their upcoming summer travel plans. The passport service is successfully responding to the high demand, and has already issued 350,000 passports to date this year. All turnaround times are at their target level and there are no backlogs.

The customer service hub is responding to over 3,000 queries per day, the turnaround times outlined on my Department's website apply to fully complete and correct applications, and they are estimates based on current average processing times. Applications that are incomplete or incorrect will take longer. In cases where insufficient or incorrect supporting documents are received by the passport service, every effort is made to let the applicant know as soon as possible. Applications enter a queue and are checked in order of date received. It is not possible at present for the passport service to address issues with applications earlier in the process due to the volume of applications that are being received. The passport service has a system in place to ensure that when an application is incomplete and further supporting documents are required and requested, these applications are prioritised once the supporting documents have been received from the applicant.

The passport service continually works to enhance the service and provide further efficiencies for customers. The recent upgrade to the passport online platform provides significant improvements for first-time online applicants in particular. The new custom cover sheet, along with the general register office integration, reduces the administrative burden for these applicants. In addition, the eircode look-up tool minimises the potential for address-related errors on all types of online applications. The passport service will continue to consider ways in which to enhance this essential service for citizens.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The reason this is being raised is that we all know about the chaos that ensues when something goes wrong with a passport applications. As Deputies, we were all inundated with queries about that and the Minister's answer is perfectly justified in terms of the backlog that is there and that we are dealing with post Brexit, with people seeking Irish citizenship and passports, as well as the administrative issues around Covid-19 with people not applying. There was a staggeringly large number of people trying to get their passports at that time. The point I am making is genuine and it affects a small and limited number of people. It can often be the ruination of people’s holiday plans and they only find out at the last minute that these errors have cost them their passports. Mary from Turner's Cross might have to cancel her trip to Tenerife and end up in Tramore if these things are not solved.

The reason I am bringing this forward is that there is an opportunity to make a minor change, in time and when the backlog dies down, that will allow these amended errors to be dealt with a little more swiftly. This would enable a more efficient and fair system and it would mean people would not have to miss out on their international travel plans.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is no backlog at the moment; none. Phone calls are being dealt with very quickly; within two to three minutes. As I said earlier in my replies, the longest wait for a call to be returned last week was five minutes and 350,000 passports have been issued this year.

What can we do to help first-time applicants, including helping them to complete their applications correctly? A recent upgrade to the passport online platform provides first-time applicants with a bespoke list of the documents they need to submit, which is customised for the applicant's specific circumstances. As I said earlier, we also offer video guides to assist citizens in submitting their correct photos. The general registration office system is quite significant and you can now do the birth certificate with the Passport Office, avoiding the need for a physical birth certificate to be sent.

We are constantly trying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this. The issue will be that as applications come in, they go into a queue. The Deputy has raised this issue and I will talk again to the Passport Office officials because they are constantly looking at ways to make this better and more customised for the customer who is applying for the passport.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Maybe there is not a backlog as such but the processing times for the applications, particularly for first-time applications, are what I am coming at. I accept there are systems in place and I acknowledge the fantastic and phenomenal work that is being done by officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs to try to cut down on waiting times, and some turnarounds have been as short as a number of days for people we have been dealing with. I am raising those genuine cases where people find themselves having identified an error at the end of the estimated date for the application to be completed and finding only at the end of the process that there is an error in the application. That may take a number of weeks to sort out. These are just a limited number of cases and perhaps now that the backlog has been tackled, as the Minister has said, we can do something about that. I am genuine in my remarks on that and I am not trying to pick holes but it would save a lot of people's international travel and prevent errors or mishaps occurring in the future and it is something that might not take an awful lot of effort to make a positive difference.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy Ó Murchú wants to come in on the same issue.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I agree that we need to streamline the amendment system for passports because it is an issue. I would also ask if we have looked into improving the situation where members of the Garda have to sign passport applications. We still occasionally get the situation where the Passport Office rings the Garda station and nobody can locate the book. The fact that we are looking for the book is probably not the greatest set of circumstances.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for their comments. Some 350,000 passports have issued to date this year. All turnaround times are at their target levels and there are no backlogs. The customer service hub is responding to over 3,000 queries per day and it has handled over 200,000 queries to date in 2023. The Department of Foreign Affairs website includes a dedicated passport service section where applicants can easily find out what additional documents are required for their applications.

Perhaps it is evidence of his diligent constituency work but Deputy O'Connor has identified an area for his constituents to get an additional bump up in the queue. We are constantly looking at ways to improve this and we will go back and see what we can do. This approach of assisting applicants at the beginning with videos and bespoke guides is the way to go.

By the way, Tramore is not a bad place for a holiday location and I am sure Deputy Butler would welcome that.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I will leave that discussion for later.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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And the gardaí-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Those issues have improved immeasurably.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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They definitely have. I just got a query about it this week; that is the only reason I raised it.