Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the resources being allocated to the passport office in Cork to allow for faster processing of passport applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21112/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service, located in my Department, is one unified service composed of 3 constituent offices located in Mount Street, Dublin; Balbriggan, County Dublin and South Mall, Cork. My Department continues to closely monitor the level of passport demand to ensure that all resources are effectively deployed within the Passport Service.

Additional measures taken by the Passport Service to address seasonal demand and anticipated application increases include the recruitment of additional staff and the use of targeted overtime in all offices.

The Passport Service received sanction this year for 220 Temporary Clerical Officers to be appointed to the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork in accordance with application volumes allocated to each office. Of these Temporary Clerical Officers, 40 were assigned to the Passport Office in Cork. In addition to this, 10 Clerical Officers and 1 Executive Officer have joined the Cork Passport Office’s permanent staff since the beginning of the year.