Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position regarding the issuing of passports; if there is a backlog of passports to be issued; the number involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16199/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Industrial action in the Passport Office by public service unions began on 19 January as part of action across the civil service. Whereas aspects of the action have now been relaxed the dispute has led to a backlog in passports to be issued. On 20 April the backlog stood at 67,738 applications.

The turnaround time for passport applications is currently 15 – 20 working days for those applications submitted through the passport express services provided through An Post and Royal Mail post offices.

The initial industrial action took the form of a refusal to carry out core work activities, such as periodic refusal to answer phones, to staff public counters, the introduction of production quotas determined by the unions, a union instruction to members to refuse to work overtime and a refusal to cooperate with the recruitment of additional staff on temporary seasonal contracts.

In late March the unions either halted their industrial action or in the case of the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) halted all elements with the exception of their refusal to cooperate with the recruitment of temporary staff. From this time Passport Service staff have been working overtime to maximise the number of passports produced. The level of increase in the backlog of applications has slowed but nonetheless the backlog is currently increasing by approximately 500 applications per day.

The resolution of this problem will come with the recruitment of the necessary temporary seasonal staff. The engagement of seasonal staff is normal practice for the Passport Service and the refusal by the CPSU to withdraw its bar on cooperation with this recruitment has caused the backlog to continue to rise. The Department of Foreign Affairs has obtained the necessary sanction to recruit the temporary staff and arrangements have been made for staff to commence work at short notice. What remains is the necessity for the CPSU to withdraw this restriction and to allow a significant number of the unemployed to take up valuable work and assist in making inroads in reducing this sizeable backlog.