Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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156. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the promised new IT system to prevent bots block booking INIS appointments at the Burgh Quay office is now operational; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62020/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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A new Immigration Service appointment and scheduling system, which will streamline and further improve the registration process, is currently being developed and is expected to be available to customers shortly.

In the meantime, the online booking system is available to all customers who should continue to apply directly for appointments as they become available without charge, at: burghquayregistrationoffice.inis.gov.ie.

Currently, due to public health restrictions, for the safety of all our customers and staff, the Registration Office can only operate at 50% of our normal capacity. This means that we can register a maximum of 200 customers per day, resulting in 1,000 customers being registered every week. My officials continue to engage with stakeholders to understand how best their needs can be met. My Department is also finalising plans to increase the number of appointments available to customers in the near future.

For customers seeking to register for the first time, the public office in Burgh Quay is now open from 08:00 to 20:30 to provide assistance to customers. Staff in the Burgh Quay Registration Office have been working extra hours, including at weekends, to meet the demand for first-time registrations to attend in person and to process the online renewal of permissions.

My Department is also aware that there have been issues in the past around the securing of registration appointments and has continually introduced software fixes designed to improve the system. These new measures have been partly successful in preventing the block booking of appointments by third party agents.

However, some third party agents continue to provide appointment booking services in return for payment on the basis that the person provides them with their personal details in advance. My Department strongly advises against this practice of providing sensitive and personal data to unregulated and unknown third parties.