Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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270. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a passport application by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34359/21]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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271. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will be issued to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34426/21]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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280. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will issue to a person (details supplied) considering the close proximity of travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34554/21]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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281. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will issue to a person (details supplied) considering the close proximity of travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34555/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 270, 271, 280 and 281 together.

The Passport Service has been in direct contact with the people referred to in the Deputies' questions.

The Passport Service commenced the scaling up of operations on 4 May 2021 in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”.

The Service has been focused since then on four priority areas.

- Clearing the COVID-19 backlog of 89,000 passport applications.

- Processing all adult renewal applications (including new applications) within 10 working days.

- Processing urgent and emergency applications.

- Providing of customer services through phone and WebChat.

From 1 July the Passport Service will commence the processing of all other applications received since 4 May focusing initially on child renewal applications and then first time applicants.

In the event that any applicant has urgent or emergency reasons for requiring a passport, they should contact the Passport Service’s Customer Service Hub, by phone or WebChat, to make the Passport Service aware of their situation.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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272. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff from the Passport Office that are on secondment to or otherwise assisting the Department of Health by grade and month since January 2020, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34429/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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To assist with the wider State response to COVID-19, 166 Passport Service personnel have been redeployed, at the request of different Departments, into other, essential public service roles, such as contact tracing for the HSE, assisting the Department of Social Protection to facilitate the processing of COVID-19 related benefits, providing consular assistance to Irish citizens overseas and assisting the Public Appointments Service.

Since 17 May the Passport Service has redeployed 8 staff to the Department of Health to assist in the provision of the Mandatory Health Quarantine Information Line. The number by grade can be found in the table below.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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273. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff employed by the Passport Office by grade and month since January 2019; if the office will be taking on summer staff to deal with the current backlogs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34430/21]

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”.

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 currently employs 463 staff. The full breakdown of the Passport Service staff by grade and by month since January 2019 will be supplied to the Deputy.

The Passport Service engages in robust workforce planning on an annual basis in cooperation with the Public Appointments Service. The Passport Service must remain in full compliance with the Work Safely Protocol which sets out obligations for employers and workers to put Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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274. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of passports awaiting processing by month from January 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34431/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service commenced the scaling up of operations on 4 May 2021 in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”.

The Service has been focused since then on four priority areas.

- Clearing the COVID-19 backlog of 89,000 passport applications.

- Processing all adult renewal applications (including new applications) within 10 working days.

- Processing urgent and emergency applications.

- Provision of customer services through phone and WebChat.

We appreciate the public’s understanding as we continue to scale up our operations to process both the COVID-19 backlog and new applications and our goal is to return to normal, pre-COVID levels of operation as soon as possible.

During the period to which the Deputy refers, approximately 288,000 applications have been received by the Passport Service and 249,000 passports were issued.

The total number of passport applications received and passports issued since 1 January 2021 is set out in the table below.

At this time, there are 102,000 applications in our system. This total comprises of COVID-19 backlog applications amounting to 37,000, some of which were received in 2020, and 65,000 new applications received since 4 May 2021.

Of the 102,000 applications, approximately 60,000 are valid and those citizens are in line to receive passports or passport cards, respecting the priority being given to COVID-19 backlog applications. Of these 60,000 valid applications, 15,000 are for passports cards which have been approved and are awaiting production. These customers have already received their passport book.

The remaining 42,000 applications on hand are incomplete applications and we have been in contact with the applicants regarding the need to send in outstanding documents. Once the Passport Service receives all outstanding required documentation, issuance of passports will follow.

The Passport Service do not have any passport books waiting to be processed as these are dispatched to customers within a short period of time following approval of their application.