David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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321. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the measures his Department has put in place to enable persons that wish to apply for a passport but that do not have a public services card and are not resident in the State, such as residents of Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Canada and Australia, once the requirement to have a public services card to apply for a passport is in operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25730/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Public Services Card (PSC) is designed to assist people in accessing a range of Government services from different departments. It is not confined to passports. As such there are no plans to make holding the Public Services Card a requirement for passport applicants who are not resident in the State. These applications will continue to be subject to the highest standards of verification and the documentary requirements are kept under continual review.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight – for those resident overseas in particular – the benefits of the Online Passport Application Service. Adults who qualify can renew their passports from their mobile devices or computers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of where in the world they are. The online service dispenses with the need for any paperwork and it takes just ten working days plus postage for a passport to issue.

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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322. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the additional human and financial resources that have been allocated to cope with the unprecedented demand for new passports and passport renewals since January 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25314/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Since January 2017 almost 230 Temporary Clerical Officers have been assigned to the Passport Service and appointed to the Passport Offices in Balbriggan, Mount Street and Cork.

Temporary Clerical Officers in the Passport Service are typically hired on twenty-six week contracts. The salary scale for these officers is the Clerical Officer salary scale, which ranges from €438.46 per week to €734.78 per week.

A number of additional permanent Clerical Officers from within the Department have also been assigned to the Passport Service in response to the exceptionally high volumes of applications received this year.

Targeted overtime for the Passport Service has also been sanctioned to increase processing capacity. From 1 January up until the end of April, the total cost of overtime was €196,912.

These measures have contributed to bringing the average turnaround time for Passport Express renewals back in line with the target of fifteen working days, as of the week ending 26 May. First-time applications and applications to replace lost, stolen or damaged passports take longer due to additional security checks and are currently two working days over target, with an average turnaround time of 22 working days.

As take-up of the Online Passport Application Service increases, it will considerably enhance overall passport processing capacity and contribute to reducing turnaround times for all channels. I therefore urge all Deputies to encourage adults who are renewing their passports to do so online. The turnaround time for online renewals is just ten working days plus postage time.

Further, I urge all Deputies to encourage citizens to register for the free passport renewal reminder email service provided by my Department at the following web address: