Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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132. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if additional personnel will be put in place in the Passport Office to deal with the backlog of applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24764/21]

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the current number of all passport applications that have not been processed. [24806/21]

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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134. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the specific measures being put in place to eliminate the backlog of outstanding passport applications. [24807/21]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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135. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether it is correct that persons are not able to have their passport applications processed in view of the fact that passports are considered one of the most important documents in a person’s possession and the fact that passports are not always required for travel but are needed for other purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24850/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 to 135, inclusive, together.

The Passport Service scaled up to more normal operational levels on 4 May 2021, in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”.

During Level 5 restrictions, the Passport Service processed more than 40,000 or just over one third of the total number of applications received this year, comprising of approximately 3,000 in response to urgent requests and 37,000 non-urgent applications for adults renewing their passport. Customer Service Information was also provided to over 40,000 citizens via our Webchat service during this time.

The Passport Service is now processing all Passport Online applications. It is expected that the 89,000 applications on hand at the end of April will be processed by the end of June. Significant progress has been made thus far with over 16,000 applications processed since 4 May.

Passport Online will continue to be the priority given the efficiencies that are in-built into the system for both the applicant and the Passport Service. The processing of an online application is four times as fast as a paper application. In addition, the use of Passport Online can facilitate social distancing, given that a renewal application for an adult does not require the signature of a witness.

Passport Online can be accessed by first time applicants, both children and adults, in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. All Irish citizens, including children, can use the online system to renew their passports from anywhere in the world.

At present, there are approximately 106,000 Passport Online applications in the system. This figure includes the approximately 17,000 new applications received by the Passport Service during the first week of scaled-up services. The Passport Service has a great deal of experience in dealing with peaks in demand, and we are 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 paper based applications such as Passport Express and Northern Ireland Passport Express once online applications have been processed. There are currently approximately 1,600 paper based applications in the system.

I am satisfied that there is no requirement, at this time, to allocate additional staff to the Passport Service. Similar to all work places, social distancing is required so this limits the occupation of buildings but my Department has been working closely with the Office of Public Works on this matter.