Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the benefits which accrued from benchmarking with regard to the services provided to the general public by his Department. [40873/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Public Service Benchmarking Body, whose report was published on 21 December 2007, carried out a detailed evaluation of the pay and jobs of 109 grades in the public service in accordance with its terms of reference.

While there is not a specific link between benchmarking and services to the public, "Sustaining Progress" and its successor "Towards 2016", the ten-year Social Partnership Agreement, set out an extensive agreed programme of measures designed to achieve improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery.

Examples of the above, which involve services provided to the general public by the Department of Foreign Affairs would include the following:

A new on-line passport application tracking system was launched on 18 December 2006. Since then any customer, who has applied for an Irish passport, can check the current status of his or her application on-line.

The Passport Office commenced the issue of the new ePassport, including the incorporation of biometrics data in passports, on 16 October 2006. This represented a major development in identity verification and security for Irish passports.

Earlier this year, my Department launched an on-line registration service on the website for Irish citizens travelling or living overseas. The information submitted is used solely for the purpose of contacting the person in exceptional or emergency situations such as a natural disaster, civil unrest or a family crisis while travelling/resident abroad.

The Department's Consular Section in Dublin provides support in a wide range of areas, including comprehensive advice on travel to particular countries or regions, and assistance in situations of difficulty or distress. In 2007, for example, the Department dealt with the deaths of over 130 Irish people abroad and provided assistance to our citizens in other difficult and distressing situations, including repatriation, hospitalisation, victims of crime and detention abroad.

A dedicated Consular Crisis Centre was opened in January 2007 to enable the Department to respond effectively to a major crisis or emergency overseas affecting Irish citizens. The Centre can be activated within minutes during normal work times and within an hour over weekends or overnight.

The Passport Express service has, over the last number of years, greatly facilitated the issuing of passports to the public and guarantees that a properly completed application will be processed in 10 working days. Some 600,000 passports were issued in 2007.

Earlier this year the Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre was opened on O'Connell Street in Dublin. The Centre is a first port-of-call for those seeking information on the personal contribution they can make to overseas development, including volunteering opportunities.

The foregoing are just a few examples of the range and quality of the services offered to the public by my Department. I can assure the Deputy that we will be availing of every opportunity to improve these services still further in the period ahead.