Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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741. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason passport renewal applications are not accepted by post (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11472/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Since 30 June 2013 all postal applications must be submitted through the passport express service operated on behalf of the Passport Service by An Post and by the Post Office in Northern Ireland. For citizens resident on the island of Ireland, passport express is the cheapest and most efficient means of processing a passport application. This service involves a pre-checking facility designed to reduce the possibility for errors in the application.

Over 90% of applications submitted through ordinary or registered post in 2012 and 2013 were either inaccurate or incomplete on arrival, with 35% lacking the correct documentation and the vast majority lacking the correct fee. As a consequence, these applications took more than twice as many hours to process as passport express applications, thereby draining resources from the processing of valid applications submitted through the passport express system or through the appointment system in our Dublin and Cork offices.

This measure was announced in this House in May of 2013 as part of a programme by the Passport Service to improve the quality of service to the public. Information on this was advertised in the national press, carried on many radio stations, and highlighted on the Passport Service website and through social media channels.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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742. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his Department's policy and procedures in dealing with passport applications of adults with reduced decision making capacity. [11683/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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When it is brought to the attention of the Passport Service that an adult does not have the decision making capacity to apply for a passport then the provisions of section 6(4) of the Passports Act 2008 are applied i.e. an application may be made on his/her behalf by an individual who is duly authorised to act on his/her behalf. Where these circumstances occur, the Passport Service requires evidence from an individual(s) that they are duly authorised to act on behalf of the applicant and where this evidence is provided, generally in the form of a court order, a passport issues.