Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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402. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason for the delay involved in posting out passports that have been processed by the passport office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35144/20]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service has paused processing of routine applications as Ireland is at Level 5 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19.

The Passport Service continues to provide an essential, emergency passport service at this time for Irish citizens at home and abroad. A same day emergency service is available for those who are required to travel due to the death or serious illness of a family member or because the applicant requires emergency medical treatment.

A weekly service is also in place for citizens who require a passport for urgent travel.

Applicants who require a passport for emergency purposes or for urgent reasons should contact the Passport Service via the Webchat function on our website. Our Customer Service Hub continues to respond to customer queries and can give advice about how to make an application in an emergency or in urgent situations.

The Passport Service has a comprehensive plan in place to resume all services, in line with the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. This provides for the resumption of processing of routine applications received via the online service at Level 4. The Passport Service plans to resume processing of routine paper based applications such as Passport Express, Northern Ireland Passport Express and applications for Foreign Birth Registrations at Level 3.