Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the turnaround time for passport applications; the number of persons waiting to have passport applications processed through the Passport Office; the number of persons awaiting a passport in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27993/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The turnaround timeframe for a passport application will depend, in the first instance, 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, in person counter application facilities in Dublin and Cork and the network of Irish Missions worldwide.The target turnaround time for applications made via the online passport application service is 10 working days plus postage. Over 50% of the 100,000 applicants who have used this channel this year have had their application processed within a week. The online service currently accommodates adult renewals and passport card applications and it is planned 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 require additional security measures including robust identity verification and entitlement checking and take longer to process.

The Passport Service is currently in its peak season for passport demand with the vast majority of applications being received between February and August each year. The Passport Service is currently processing over 63,000 passport applications. These applications are going through the normal checking, processing and security stages.

The Passport Service is doing everything possible to ensure that passports are processed as quickly as possible. Measures taken to enhance processing capacity include the recruitment of additional Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs); the use of targeted overtime and the redeployment of experienced staff from across the Department to processing applications and respond to customer queries

The Passport Service does not classify or differentiate passports applications based on the county of residence of the applicant. All applications are processed in accordance with the application channel through which they were submitted.