Written answers

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Passport Applications Administration

Photo of Mary ButlerMary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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40. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is satisfied that the appropriate staffing is in place in the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork to meet demand; his views on the turnaround times for the issue and renewal of all passport applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27642/18]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The turnaround timeframe for a passport application will depend on the channel through which the application was submitted. The Passport Service provides a range of channels to Irish citizens wishing to apply for a passport. These include a postal application system, an online passport application service and in person counter application facilities in Dublin and Cork. The quickest and easiest way for an adult to renew a passport is to apply using the online passport application service. Over 50% of the 100,000 applicants who have used this channel this year have got their passport back within a week and all have their passport issued within the advertised 2 week timeframe. The Passport Service plans to further extend this service to child renewals by the end of 2018.

The average turnaround time for renewal applications submitted through Passport Express is currently on target at 15 working days.

Other types of application, which are generally submitted through Passport Express, such as first time applications or applications to replace lost, stolen or damaged passports take longer. These applications must undergo additional processes including security checks, robust identity verification & entitlement checking and, as a result, take longer to process.

The Passport Service is working hard to reduce turnaround times where they currently exceed our targets. Measures taken by the Passport Service include the recruitment of additional staff; the reallocation of staff from support services towards processing applications; and the use of targeted overtime for all Passport Offices.

The Passport Service received sanction for 220 Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) this year to be appointed to the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork . These TCOs are working together with permanent staff to process passport applications and to deal with the high number of enquiries being made through the Passport Service’s various customer service channels.

The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff permanently employed by my Department and assigned to the Passport Service stood at 322 at the beginning of the year. This compares to 301 FTE staff assigned to the Passport Service at the same point last year. This year, since these figures were released, over 30 permanent staff have started with the Passport Service.

I wish to reassure the Deputy the Passport Service monitors passport demand on an ongoing basis to ensure that appropriate staff resources are available.

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