Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 92: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to improve the passport system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4924/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Arrangements are currently being put in place aimed at bringing the turnaround time for properly completed Irish passports submitted in Britain to approximately three weeks. This will be comparable to passport services offered by other jurisdictions to their citizens who are resident overseas. There have been some technical problems with the telephone system in the Passport Service and this had resulted in difficulties for customers. These issues have now been resolved. Notwithstanding this, the Passport Service handles over two hundred calls per day from UK residents, or approximately 25% of all calls received.

I can also confirm that additional temporary staff have been recruited, some of whom are already in training, and this will increase further the capacity of the Passport Service to take telephone queries. It is not possible to comment on the specific detail of the complaint from the named individual as neither the identity of the applicant nor the application number have been provided.