Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 69: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason a person (details supplied) was only issued a two year passport; if they can receive a longer validated passport in order to enable them to apply for a working and holiday visa for Canada; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16497/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As part of the policy to protect the integrity, security and international reputation of Irish passports, all passports which are reported lost or stolen are immediately cancelled. This cancellation notice is circulated to worldwide border control agencies through Interpol on a daily basis. The Passport Service treats the loss of a passport as a serious issue. Passport Service policy has been developed in accordance with EU regulations and our international obligations to other States in relation to lost and stolen passports. In relation to this specific case, the passport holder lost his two most recent passports. Where a citizen has a poor passport record, such as in any case where two or more passports have been lost, restrictions will apply to the validity period of the next passport obtained. In this specific case, a restricted passport with two years' validity was issued in February 2010. Should the Passport holder now require a passport with at least twelve months validity, he is entitled to apply for a new passport at any time and to return his current passport for cancellation. A decision on whether to restrict the validity of any subsequent passport will be made at the time of his application. In any event, the minimum validity period of any new passport would be two years which would enable the person to apply for a Canadian visa. The general advice to citizens remains that passports are valuable documents and should be kept it in a safe place while at home and looked after carefully when travelling.

Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 70: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the delays currently being experienced by passport applicants (details supplied), particularly those who have paid extra money for passport express in order that their passports may be allocated on time. [16573/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Passport demand is currently running at a level 12% above other comparable years and this has resulted in a temporary backlog of approximately 4 days in the processing of Passport Express applications. The Passport Service regrets the delay and any difficulties caused in this regard. Notice of the current extended turnaround time and its likely duration has been published on the Passport Service website www.passport.ie since 18 April 2011. It is regularly updated. The Passport Service has also informed An Post so that customers can be advised of the situation at the point of application

The exceptional peak season demand on all passport services is being tackled by the recruitment of 85 additional temporary staff and the use of overtime. The ongoing efforts in this regard will see the Passport Service bring processing times back to normal levels in the coming weeks.

In terms of the application in question, a parent of the applicant was in direct contact with the Passport Service's Customer Care Unit to arrange the collection of the applicant's passport, which was issued on 16 June.