Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have all had experience of that, unfortunately for the people involved. We reckon that Passport Online is available to all Irish citizens on this island and 97% of Irish citizens around the world. There are some countries where people cannot apply online. Passport Online has been extremely successful. Some 90% of applicants use it. This has reduced massively the number of people who visit the post office or passport offices to apply in person. The public is doing this and we want more and more of them to apply online as well. That message is getting out there. It takes six minutes on a smartphone to apply for a passport. The online application process is much faster than going through the post. Online is the quickest, cheapest and most convenient way for everyone to apply for their passport, North and South. There is no difference whatsoever. Some Senators mentioned the post office. I would urge all Senators who have mentioned the post office to go back to their constituents and tell them to apply online. Wherever they are on this island, it is going to take a lot less time.

The passport service is now pursuing a digital first strategy, as all the airlines have done. As we come into our busy season early next year we will be promoting Passport Online in media outlets across the island. That very much satisfies the citizenship side of Article 2 of the Constitution, which was referenced correctly by the Senator. As well as providing a more user-friendly and efficient service for the citizen, Passport Online allows for the centralisation of processing which results in greater efficiencies. I accept what Senator Ó Donnghaile said about the human touch and person-to-person contact being very important. However, if we increased that significantly over what it is at the moment we would slow down the whole service. By encouraging people to do it online, we have now significantly quicker processes than Britain or America. There is absolutely no question about that. We have put everyone else in the shade in terms of how quickly our passports go through at the moment. A lot of the travel industry, and I am including this in the travel industry as well being a matter of citizenship, experienced challenges after Covid. Despite unquestionable problems this year, and we all had them, our Department of Foreign Affairs really has risen to the challenge.

The Senator is right that the number of Irish passport-holders resident in Northern Ireland has risen in recent years. We get 11,000 applications a month from the North of Ireland. This is about 10% of all applications. I acknowledge the Senator's petition. However, since the end of June more people have got a passport online from Northern Ireland than have signed the petition. That is not to denigrate the petition or anything but just to show the Senator that tens of thousands of people in Northern Ireland are successfully applying for passports online. A small number of people do need to go to the Passport Office but we think that could be even smaller. Some 60% of renewals, the vast majority, are in three working days or less, even to the North of Ireland. Some 40% of applications from the North are first-time applications. They take longer, that is just the way it is and I think everybody will agree with that. A passport is an important document and we do not hand them out willy-nilly. That would be a breach of any concept of citizenship because it is such a valuable thing. The figure from Northern Ireland applying online is 87%, slightly below what we do in the South but basically the same. That will continue to grow if we all collectively get the message out.

I ask Senators to support us in promoting Passport Online for all applicants through all of their networks in Northern Ireland which Senators have already mentioned. The passport service is continually considering ways to improve its service. We will look at the issue of MLAs and MPs in the North of Ireland, I have no difficulty with that. We will just have to look at how it could be done and that will be a decision for the Minister, Deputy Coveney. He apologies for not being here. We regularly review the services that we offer. The view of the Department, when we look at these facts and figures and consider the number of people who would potentially use that office, and look at the massive majority of people from the North of Ireland who apply online, is that we do not see the business case. People have explicitly mentioned that there is another case, not just a business case and I accept Senators' point of view on that. There are no obstacles to applying for a passport from the North of Ireland that do not also apply here. It is basically the same, one or the other. The distances from Castlebar, where Senator Chambers is from, or from other parts of the country are similar. They make good arguments as well for having offices there but the truth is that all of this applies to them as well.

Our current turnaround times for the Passport Online system are among the best in the world. We never would have thought that could be the case. We kind of knew because we knew what was happening but it did not feel like it last May or June. The way to do that is to promote this digital first policy for all applicants regardless of their address, as it does deliver an exceptional service to citizens no matter where they live or where they are. I thank the Seanad and the Chair for the opportunity to address Senators on this matter. I urge them to use Passport Online and to tell their constituents about it. Whether it is a first-time application or a renewal for an adult or a child, the fastest way is online.