Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the current turnaround time for new passport applications and for renewals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22522/26]

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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After a miserable winter here, many of our constituents are looking forward to their summer holidays and perhaps a bit of sun if they are lucky enough to get abroad. With that, comes a need for many people to renew passports or to apply for new passports. What are we looking at in terms of turnaround times for new passport applications and for renewals?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I hope it will not be just our constituents who will be able to get away. Maybe we might all get a break during the summer as well. The Deputy is right that this is the time of year when we need to highlight the need for, and encourage, people to get their applications in if their passports are out of date or if they need time on their passports for wherever they are travelling. This is particularly the case in situations where people have new small children who do not have a passport. They should get those applications in as soon as possible.

Notwithstanding that, I have to say the passport service is successfully responding to quite a high level of demand. It has already issued 224,000 passports this year. The service does phenomenal work, and I have no doubt that it will issue many more passports in the months to come.

The advertised turnaround times for passport applications are ten working days for simple online adult renewals. I would hazard a guess that anybody who has done their application online for a renewal will have received their passport within a matter of days.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Ten working days is not the experience I and many others have had. It is 15 working days for complex or child online renewals. Again, the time taken tends to be somewhat shorter but these are the average lengths of time. It is 20 working days for first-time online applications and eight weeks for passport assist applications.

We have seen many of the challenges where first-time applications for children are being put in on paper. Those are certainly the queries I get and that I am sure the Deputy gets as well. This is particularly the case where there are challenges, where pictures are not correct, something has not been signed or there is an issue with the paperwork itself. It is much more difficult to deal with these applications in a quicker way. I use this opportunity to encourage anybody looking to apply for a passport to do it online because it can be done 24-7. It does not have to be done within office hours. The turnaround times I mentioned apply to applications that are fully complete and correct, and begin from the time the supporting documents are received by the passport service. It does not begin from the date the online application is made. Where applications are incorrect or incomplete, it is naturally just going to take a little bit longer.

Since 2022, the passport service has operated a document management system whereby incomplete applications that require further supporting documents are prioritised once the additional documents are received. These are processed within 15 working days. Huge progress has been made in recent years and hopefully people will be able to apply.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the work of the team in the Passport Office. The numbers the Minister gave are incredible. All of us as public representatives see how hard they work and how responsive they are to helping people under pressure to get a passport. There is also the rapid turnaround time if people are going for a simple adult renewal. The passport could be arriving in the letterbox a day or two after people apply.

I also acknowledge the Minister and the two Ministers of State here in the Chamber, and their staff. I particularly acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and his staff for the assistance they regularly give to me in securing passports when there are these more difficult cases.

I echo some of what the Minister said. I encourage people to check their passports right now if they are travelling this summer> People should apply online, where possible, to avoid paper applications. We see so many issues arising from paper applications. I also believe this message should be communicated to our Garda stations to ensure that if somebody comes in with a paper passport application, gardaí will know they can guide them towards using an online application to avoid these issues happening.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I fully agree. Some of the challenges have been around the paperwork, where certain things have not been signed or where there have been follow-ups and it has not been possible to engage with certain people. If people are going to a Garda station or to get a signature from anybody, it is important they know they will be in a position to be able to follow up with the Passport Office when it re-engages.

The reason we have been able to increase the number of passports being provided while reducing the timelines involved is because of the significant investment that has gone into the Passport Office in recent years. Over the past five years, the passport service has increased its staffing resources by 75%. The Passport Office has gone from having 468 people working there to 822 people working there now, which is a significant response and increase. Year on year, we are seeing a workforce that is expanding and growing, and that is also looking to the future too. In my next contribution, I will point out the changes that are going to take place this year. While we do have an award-winning passport service, we are looking to do even more for people.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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To conclude, I believe communication with the public would help us in those final tricky cases we are seeing.

To be fair, as public representatives there are fewer and fewer passport issues coming to us because most of them are being sorted, as the Minister said, because of the investment the Government has put into the Passport Office and the increase in staffing numbers.

In relation to the witness for the photographs or the parents’ consent to a passport, people need to know they should go to a 24-hour Garda station. Someone will always be there to answer the call to verify and make sure the pictures are taken correctly. Parents should ensure they do not miss an email if they are queried on something. So they know, again I stress they should always apply online where possible. That should be communicated in a campaign and people should be directed towards those Garda stations which, to be fair, have a lot more to do in their job than just passports but are going to get that job when they are 24-hour stations. Members of An Garda Síochána need to know those key facts to be able to advise people to avoid the issue before it even has to come to us and then we have to go and hound the three Ministers for passports.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We do not mind at all. That is what we are here for. I agree and urge all Deputies to advise on their social media channels or in whatever way they can to encourage people to check their passports to make sure they are in date and to give enough time for a new infant or child getting a passport for the first time. I mentioned some of the changes which are going to take place this year. We are looking at some complex transformational projects which are trying to future-proof the service overall to provide a better customer experience, business continuity and safeguarding of the integrity of the Irish passport, which is probably one of the most secure passports in the world. Particularly post-Brexit, we are seeing an increase in the number of people seeking to have the Irish passport, which has resulted in some of the increase in numbers as well. We are looking to deliver customer relations solutions projects and facial recognition technology as part as our overall service. We have a passport redesign project and a passport online project as well. These will be integrated with the new passport processing systems. There is a lot of work being done to improve what I believe is already a very good system.