Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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17. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if greater resources will be provided to the Passport Office in County Cork to allow for greater speed in clearing passport applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40311/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service is composed of 3 constituent offices located in Mount Street, Dublin, Balbriggan, County Dublin and South Mall, Cork.

The Passport Service is one unified service. The distribution of work across the 3 passport offices does not in any way or limit the options available to the public in terms of passport application channels or reduce the quality of service provided.

Currently, the Cork office processes applications from Northern Ireland and Great Britain, as well as applications submitted at Ireland’s network of Embassies and Consulates worldwide.

The Passport Office in Cork is currently processing applications well within target turnaround times with renewal applications via Northern Ireland and Great Britain being processed within 10 days and non-renewals within 13 and 17 days respectively. Applications submitted at Ireland’s network of Embassies and Consulates are being processed within 20 days.

The public counter in Cork also continues to accept applications from all categories of applicant, by appointment. Where appropriate, this office can also facilitate the issuance of emergency passports.

My Department continues to closely monitor the level of passport demand to ensure that all resources are effectively deployed. In order to manage seasonal demand and anticipated application increases, the Passport Service recruited 216 Temporary Clerical Officers this year. These Temporary Clerical Officers were appointed to the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork in accordance with application volumes allocated to each office. A total of 50 Temporary Clerical Officers were assigned to the Passport Office in Cork.

Targeted overtime was also utilised across all Passport Offices to help reduce the impact of high application volumes on turnaround times.

In addition to this, 12 Clerical Officers and 1 Executive Officer have joined the Cork Passport Office’s permanent staff since the beginning of the year.