Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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281. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he is taking to ensure persons can track the progress of their passport applications in real time in view of the fact that the various stages of the process do not update on his Department's website in a timely manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15285/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Passport Service launched a new online tracking system at the end of last year. The tracker provides tailored information on progress with applications and the estimated issue date to applicants. In recent weeks, there have been some technical difficulties with the tracker resulting in delays in status updates for a small number of applications.

The Passport Service has worked to resolve these issues and I can confirm that minor system bugs were located and repaired last week. The online tracker is now functioning effectively and updating as normal.

My Department will continue to monitor the tracker’s functionality and will follow-up swiftly on applicant feedback in order to ensure that the information communicated by the tracker is fully accurate.