John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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365. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to resume the processing of standard passport applications taking into consideration that the level 5 restrictions have been further extended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11683/21]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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366. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of standard passport applications on hold awaiting processing at present; the average wait time by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11684/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 365 and 366 together.

The Passport Service has paused the processing of routine applications while Ireland is at Level 5 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. Passport Service staff have been temporarily reassigned to provide consular assistance for Irish citizens overseas.

The Passport Service continue to provide an emergency and urgent service. The 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. The urgent service also assist citizens who are resident abroad who require a valid passport for visa purposes or citizens who require a renewal for work purposes. The Passport Service continues to process all renewals for work-related travel where evidence is provided.

The Passport Service continues to operate its Customer Service Hub by WebChat to facilitate customer queries. Irish citizens who are resident overseas should make contact through the local Irish Embassy or Consulate General or WebChat.

At present, there are approximately 57,000 Passport Online applications in the system. When operations resume at Level 4, all applications received via Passport Online will be processed. Passport Online has improved the ability of the Passport Service to process applications more efficiently. It is important to place this in the context of previous years when approximately 200,000 applications would be seen in the same time period 2020 and 2019.

The Passport Service is confident, taking into account measures to ensure a safe workplace, that any Passport Online backlog can be cleared in six to eight weeks.

The Passport Service plans to resume processing of routine paper based applications such as Passport Express and Northern Ireland Passport Express at Level 3 of the Framework.