Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 75: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a person (details supplied) in County Limerick will receive their passport. [19563/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I am pleased to confirm to the Deputy that a passport was posted to the applicant on 06 July.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 76: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he is taking to tackle the back log in passport applications and the delays being experienced by those seeking passports; the length of time the passport express service takes at present. [19632/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The number of applications received so far this year shows an increase in demand of 12% in comparison to this time in 2009. The figures for 2010 are not a reliable comparison due to the impact of last year's industrial action. Whereas the exact reason for this increase in demand is unclear it is noticeable that passport applications for children and passports for the over 65s have been higher than during the same period in the last few years. Discussions with customers have also suggested that much of the demand relates to last minute travel plans made for holiday reasons.

In addition, changes to passport application procedures were introduced in January requiring first time adult applicants and those reporting passports lost or stolen to submit additional documentary evidence to establish identity and entitlement to an Irish passport. These changes were a necessary response to an increase in the number of fraudulently obtained passports and the need to protect the integrity and international reputation of the Irish passport. Whereas these new measures have had some impact on the time to process applications, the impact primarily relates to only a small subset of the overall application demand.

It is currently taking up to fifteen working days to process applications submitted through Passport Express. This represents a delay of five working days over the normal guaranteed turnaround. Notice of the current extended turnaround time and its likely duration has been published on the Passport Service website www.passport.ie . The Passport Office has also informed An Post so that customers can be advised of the situation at the point of application. Priority will continue to be given to applications made through the Passport Express Service and Irish-based customers are strongly encouraged to use that service. It is regrettable that, due to the high number of applications, those submitted through other channels i.e. through the ordinary post system or from Ireland's overseas Missions etc. are currently taking considerably longer to be processed.

There are currently 48,242 passport applications in the system being processed across the Passport Offices in Molesworth Street, Balbriggan, Cork and London. An average of 3,400 applications per day were received last week which is down from the recent previous average of over 4,000 applications per day. This reduction provides some evidence that passport demand is beginning to level off, in which case, it is expected that the number of applications in the system will decrease over the coming weeks.

However this reduction is still not reflected in the unprecedented demand for passports at short notice. The Passport Service is currently receiving 400 people per day on average coming to the public office seeking passports within a period of less than 10 days. On 6 July, over 440 people submitted applications for a short notice service at the public office in Molesworth Street alone. In the context of these very large numbers of customers using the public counter service, it is not always possible, despite the best efforts of the Passport Office staff, to be of assistance and to accommodate all requests for a short notice service. Citizens are advised that the public counter services should only be used in cases of genuine emergency. Priority at the public counters will be given to those who have a necessity to travel for reasons of family emergency i.e. travel is necessitated by the death, illness or welfare of a family member.

It should also be stressed that to protect the integrity of the system and the quality of the passport, the Passport Service cannot provide standard passports within a single day. The shortest turnaround time available is three working days for applications received over the public counter, accompanied by proof of travel, other than in cases of genuine emergency.

From the beginning of April, my Department took on additional temporary staff to work in the Passport Service. There are now 85 additional temporary staff in place, and they have been trained in passport processing. In conjunction with seasonal overtime, I expect the Passport Service to be in a position to bring return times back to normal levels over the coming weeks. I would once again express my regret at the delays being experienced by customers of the Passport Service and would strongly appeal to the public to assist the Passport Service by checking the validity of their passports before making bookings to travel abroad. A valid passport should be the first item on any check list when considering foreign travel.