John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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15. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will consider opening a passport printing office in Cork to assist with printing passports in a timely manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38241/25]

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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Will the Tánaiste consider opening a passport printing office in Cork to assist with printing passports in a timely manner? I ask him to make a statement on the matter.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Shea, for raising this question. I am pleased to say the passport service is delivering passports to our citizens within advertised turnaround times and, in many cases, well before their due date. More than 580,000 passports have been issued this year to date.

The public offices in Dublin and Cork operate an urgent appointment service for renewal applications. The Dublin office offers one-day and four-day turnaround services, while the Cork office offers a four-day turnaround service. Our records show that, between the two locations, just 1.6% of all passport applicants avail of this service. So much is done online now. That is a key point. During 2024, there were an average of 240 appointments available in Cork each year. Throughout that year, however, only 26% of appointments available in Cork were taken up. We have significant spare appointment capacity, which is a good thing. It means the system is working well.

Currently, the passport service operates three passport book printing machines, with two in the main production facility at the Balbriggan campus and the third in the Dublin Passport Office, which is near Leinster House, on Mount Street. The printing and dispatching of passports are a highly automated process in what is an industrial production system. The passport service estimates the initial capital cost of purchasing and installing a new printer and mailing machine to be approximately €5.3 million. In addition to this are costs associated with capital investment and the requirement for expert engineers on site. The running and maintenance costs alone are estimated to be a further €600,000. For these reasons, I need to give further consideration to this because the service is working reasonably well. While I will consider this matter, I am not in a position to commit to it now.

I am pleased to say that we are increasing our presence in Cork. We are increasing the number of people working in the Cork office, with a new premises at Navigation Square in Cork city identified by the Department and the OPW to house the Cork Passport Office. It will have capacity for 140 staff compared with the 115 staff who are currently assigned. We are moving to a bigger office to increase our staffing levels in Cork. That will happen and I am grateful the new premises has now been identified at Navigation Square in Cork city.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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As the Tánaiste said, there are two publicly accessible passport offices, one on the South Mall in Cork and one on Mount Street in Dublin, in addition to a passport printing facility in Balbriggan. Of these three buildings, only two print the passports, with one printing facility in Dublin city centre and two printing presses in Balbriggan. There is no such facility in Cork. Given that the number of annual first-time passport applications has more than doubled, and renewal applications have nearly doubled in the period from 2020 to 2024, an additional passport printing service is definitely needed. I note the Tánaiste's comments about the public offices and the passport services in Cork and Dublin operating an urgent appointment service for renewal applications. The Dublin office offers one-day and four-day turnaround services, while the Cork office only offers a four-day service. If the Cork office was able to provide a one-day turnaround service, as well as a printing service, that would be welcome.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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No one in this Chamber is going to give out about increased capacity for our passport services. In every constituency office at this point, there is no shortage of calls from people trying to make it on holiday who are absolutely afraid they will not get their passport in time. Obviously, we need to make sure people check their dates and do whatever is needed. We have spoken about this previously.

There is an issue when it comes to streamlining, however. We know the issues that keep occurring around forms and the areas where mistakes are routinely made. They are made by a significant number of people. We need to look at the means by which that happens. At times, when a mistake happens, the clock is almost put back to zero. That is an issue. While people can sign up to be reminded when their passport goes out of action, I spoke to the Tánaiste previously about finding a way to make that streamlined in order that there is an automatic email in the same way as there is when it comes to motor tax and whatever else.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Let me take those suggestions on board.

The passport reform programme is continuing. While we made significant progress on passport delivery, turnaround times and the integrity of the passport, that process continues. I am happy to continue to engage on that.

On Deputy O'Shea's point, what I am saying for the people of Cork is that we are committed to Cork, to our Passport Office and to the new passport office. We will have the new passport office operational by autumn 2026 at 1 Navigation Square in Cork city. In addition to this, we will have the new building, the public office and the space and capacity for more staff. Our commitment to Cork and our presence and footprint in Cork are beyond doubt will be expanded.

My Department is not convinced of the business case for the printing machine but we will continue to keep this under review. I am happy to continue to engage. Perhaps next time I am in Cork, we might visit the passport service together and consider that further.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Tánaiste. I compliment the passport staff. The many passport service staff I have dealt with in my role as a TD for the Cork North-West constituency have been very helpful at all times. It is great to see that a new passport office in opening in Cork in the autumn and that there will be additional staff in that office. I know this matter has been brought up locally in my county, Cork, by local representative Councillor Rory Cocking in the Midleton local electoral area, and also by my colleague here in the Oireachtas Senator Eileen Lynch. It is a matter of importance to everybody in Cork to see if we can get a service operating that would be of benefit for all the people of Cork. The challenge is that if an urgent appointment is required, the people of Cork and of Munster have to travel to Dublin for a one-day service appointment to get that urgent passport. That is where the critical issue is.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I hear the Deputy. We are continuing to do everything we can to reduce the number of people who ever need to travel for an in-person appointment. I am really encouraged to see that that is less than 2% of people. It is quite incredible. We have spare capacity for the appointments in Cork today. Only about 26% of the slots in Cork are being used. I join with the Deputy in saying that is not by accident but is a testament to the incredible work of the people in the passport service. It is not that long ago that, after the Covid backlog, trying to get a passport was a real challenge for many of our citizens. We often quite rightly criticise some of the reform programmes, which can be quite challenging. The passport reform programme has gone very well. I was in the Balbriggan office and met Deputy O'Reilly there not that long ago. A great team of people is doing really good work there. I thank them for that.