Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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345. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of passport applications received by the passport office in the past six months to date; the number of passport applications received from residents in Britain and Northern Ireland in the same period; the number of passport applications received from residents in Britain and Northern Ireland since 23 June 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19507/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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A total of 439,871 passport applications were received from 1 January to 30 June. Of these, 39,619 (9%) relate to citizens from Northern Ireland while 28,767 (6.5%) have been submitted from Great Britain.

In the period 23 to 30 June, the number of registered applications from Northern Ireland and Great Britain was 2,313 and 1,460 respectively.

While there is likely to be an increase in the number of first-time applications submitted from the UK and from British people living overseas, it is too early to assess how significant this will be. We are seeing an increased number of queries relating to passports and citizenship from Northern Ireland, Great Britain and elsewhere.

The Passport Service will continue to closely monitor the situation to ensure the effective deployment of staff resources and to minimize the impact of the high volume of applications generally on turnaround times and on customer service. The need for additional resources will be kept under review.