Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 266: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs when a passport will issue in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18012/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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A passport application for the named person was registered with the Passport Office in Molesworth Street on 27 April, 2010. As a direct result of industrial action, significant arrears of passport applications have arisen within the passport service. It is presently taking up to twenty working days to process Passport applications received through the Passport Express service. As applications, other than those that are prioritised on the basis of demonstrable urgent humanitarian need, are being processed on a first come first served basis, the application in question will not be processed until the later half of May. Every effort is being made to reduce the waiting time for applications, pending the resolution of the industrial action which is preventing the recruitment of temporary staff to address the seasonal surge in demand for passports.