Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to take this Commencement matter on behalf of my senior colleague in the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Heather Humphreys. As the Senator knows, to apply for a PPSN an adult must generally provide valid proof of identity, address and reason for applying. The easiest way to apply for a PPSN is online at mywelfare.ie.

To directly answer the Senator's question, as of 28 May 2023 the national wait time for PPSN allocation using mywelfare.ieis 1.3 weeks. While the PPSN application process is relatively straightforward, delays can occur on individual applications where incomplete applications are submitted, or there are problems with the quality of documents provided. When this occurs, the applicant is contacted by officials from the Department of Social Protection to help progress their application. In addition, the Department of Social Protection has arrangements in place with other public bodies, employer groups and representative bodies to expedite applications in cases of urgency. Where people arrive in the country and are granted temporary protection having fled the war in Ukraine, or seek international protection, a priority for the Department of Social Protection is the quick allocation of a PPS number to these individuals. To achieve this, the Department has put in place special arrangements to deal with PPS number applications for people seeking temporary protection. A reception centre is in operation at City West convention centre where Department of Social Protection, Department of Justice and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth officials are available to meet people on arrival from Ukraine. The information needed to allocate a PPS number is collected as part of the initial engagement with the person there, and the PPS number is available for them to collect at any Intreo centre across the country within four working days.

Applications for PPS numbers are also being processed quickly for people who arrive in the country and seek international protection. To achieve this officials from the Department of Social Protection have colocated with Department of Justice international protection staff in Mount Street since 25 January 2023. People seeking international protection attend at Mount Street to submit their international protection applications when they arrive in the country. They can meet with Department of Social Protection officials on the same day in Mount Street to make an application for a PPS number. The application will be processed within four working days and can be collected by the person at any Intreo centre across the country. The timeframe for the allocation of PPS numbers is the same for temporary protection and international protection applicants. There are no delays in allocating PPS numbers to either temporary protection or international protection applicants.

The Senator raised an interesting comparison concerning the average waiting time for work permits, which as of last week has come down to about 16 days from a high of 21 weeks. This is due to a lot of work not just by officials from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, but crucially under the previous Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, in this role. I fully accept the point that there is often a much longer wait for visas. However, going forward in the medium term, the Department is working with the Department of Justice to develop a new singular portal. This will enable a person to apply for a work permit and a visa in one application, and receive a single response within an acceptable time. This will go a long way in speeding things up.

On the Senator's direct plea on PPS numbers, there are always individual cases and circumstances. It is hard to refer to them as a general case, because as the Senator has pointed out the system is working efficiently on average. If there are individual cases the Senator would like to bring to me, as Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection, I would be more than happy to work with him to expedite them where possible.