Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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278. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the expenditure allocated to the Passport Office service from 2012 to 2016 and to date in 2017, in tabular form; the number of staff employed in the Passport Office service in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15230/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The expenditure allocated to the Passport Service from 2012 to 2017 to date is outlined in the table. These figures include salary costs for all years except 2017 and they exclude accommodation costs.

The figures also capture spend on the passport reform programme (2016-2018) to date of €4.4m. The programme is delivering major upgrades to passport service technology platforms and business processes as well as significant customer service improvements. This includes an online passport application service which will be launched shortly.

The following table details the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff permanently employed by my Department and assigned to the Passport Service on 1 January for each of the years requested.

In addition, a number of Temporary Clerical Officers are engaged each year for the Passport Service to assist in responding to seasonal passport demand increases.