Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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202. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the communication process in place for a person looking for an update on their passport application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16690/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service has established a dedicated Communication Unit to respond to queries from passport applicants. This Unit can be contacted by telephone, email or by web chat on the contact details provided on the Passport Service website, www.dfa.ie/passport. Due to the high volume of calls currently being received, the Passport Service may not be able to answer as many as it would like to. However, detailed and regularly updated information on passport services; current average turnaround times and comprehensive guides to the various application processes can be consulted on the Passport Service website. In particular I would like to take this opportunity to highlight that applicants can track the status of existing applications at any time through the Passport Service’s online tracker which can be found on the department’s website: .

The Passport Service also has a Customer Care desk in the public offices (Mount Street, Dublin and Cork) where applicants can visit without an appointment for an update on their application.