Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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665. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when it is intended that that Passport Express services will resume; if his attention has been drawn to the serious impact the delay in resuming this service is having on passport applicants who are required to submit documentation in support of their applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31319/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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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”.

Passport Online will continue to be the priority channel 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 up to 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.

Applicants who need to submit supporting documentation for their application, such as first time applicants or applications on behalf of children can use the Passport Online service and submit the documentation required directly to the Passport Service via the address provided in the application process.

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.

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 the commitment made to clear all applications on hand at the end of April within 6-8 weeks is on target to be met. Simple Adult Renewals continue to be processed within 10 working days.

The Passport Service plans to resume processing of paper based applications such as Passport Express and Northern Ireland Passport Express as soon as possible. There are currently approximately 1,500 paper based applications in the system.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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666. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a passport application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31321/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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All passport applications are subject to the provisions of the Passports Act 2008. The Act provides, among other things, that a person must be an Irish citizen before a passport can be issued to him/her. In order to meet this requirement, each person must demonstrate an entitlement to Irish citizenship by providing acceptable documentary evidence of this entitlement.

Entitlement to Irish citizenship is determined by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, under which Irish citizenship may be obtained by birth, by descent, or by naturalisation.

First-time applications require additional security measures including robust identity verification and entitlement checking and, as a result, take longer to process.

With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Office will be in direct contact with the applicant regarding this application.