John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week I raised the issue of the delay in the processing of passports. I welcome the Minister's announcement yesterday that 233 people have been appointed to the Passport Office to deal with the backlog. I urge members of the public to check their passports in good time in respect of renewals. There is a facility where a passport holder can sign up to receive an alert three months before a passport is due for renewal. However, in many cases, there is a need for a passport to be renewed six months before its expiration date, so it makes common sense that the alert should be six months before a passport is due for renewal. Nowadays with technology, every passport holder should receive an automatic alert. That would reduce the bottleneck that occurs every year in May and June, at the beginning of the holiday period.