Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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284. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if a passport will be processed on time for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo in order that they can travel with their family.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10662/22]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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287. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will be processed for a person (details supplied) in view of the fact this application is with the Passport Office since 29 October 2021. [10718/22]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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288. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if a passport will issue for a person (details supplied) submitted in December 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10827/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 284, 287 and 288 together.

With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputies have enquired, the Passport Service has issued passports to the applicants.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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286. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to significant delays in respect of first-time passport application processing times made from within the State; the steps he has taken in order to reduce application processing times; and the number of first-time applications made within the State in the backlog of applications to be processed. [10685/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service is currently experiencing high demand for first time passports, particularly for children. First time passport applications do take longer to process and there are a number of reasons for this. First time applications are necessarily complex to process, since they are essentially applications for Irish citizenship. The Passport Service must validate the true identity of the applicant and take measures to confirm the applicant’s entitlement to Irish citizenship. It is the statutory responsibility of the Passport Service to protect the integrity of the Irish passport. Accordingly, a rigorous analysis process is in place to verify the identity and citizenship status of first time applicants.

In the case of first time passport applications for children, the consent of guardians must also be thoroughly validated.

The current passport processing times are:

- 10 working days for Simple Adult online renewals

- 15 working days for Complex or child online renewals

- 40 working days for First Time Applications on Passport Online

- 8 weeks for An Post’s mail-in “Passport Express” service

Due to the intensive analysis and extra measures undertaken by highly trained and experienced staff, first time applications take 40 working days to process. In cases of children whose parents are not Irish citizens, the process can sometimes take longer due to the need to ensure that all of the required supporting documentation to prove the child’s entitlement to Irish citizenship is submitted and correct. Due to the high level of complexity with these particular applications, further documentation is often required adding to the processing time.

My Department has been pro-actively planning to ensure the necessary resources are in place to meet the current and expected level of demand in 2022 and is making an unprecedented investment in the Passport Service in terms of additional staff and improvements to the passport processing and customer service systems.

My Department is working with the Public Appointments Service on a major recruitment drive that has been underway for several months. Since June of 2021, over 300 members of staff at all grades have been assigned to the Passport Service. Additional staff are being assigned on a weekly basis with a goal of reaching staff numbers of 900 by the end of March. This represents a doubling of staff numbers over the course of 9 months.

It is a priority for the Passport Service to improve processing times for first time applicants in 2022. The Passport Service is implementing a number of further measures that will positively impact the current turnaround times and improve customer service:

- Intensive training of new staff and upskilling of existing staff is underway to increase the resources that can process complex applications.

- The Passport Service is actively prioritising first time applications and directing increased resources to processing these complex applications with a view to reducing the current turnaround time.

- A new document management process is being put in place that allows for a much quicker turnaround time when an applicant is asked to submit additional documents. Once these documents are received, they will be prioritised and complete applications will be processed in 3 weeks. This will greatly reduce the waiting time for applicants who are missing documents in their initial application.

We are confident that the measures that have been implemented will help to reduce passport turnaround times in the course of 2022, particularly for first time applications, and will assist the Passport Service in meeting the high demand forecast for this year.

The Passport Service has been experiencing very high demand for passports since May 2021 and expects a high level of demand for passports to continue throughout this year. Currently, over 1.4m passport applications are anticipated this year compared to the previous pre-Covid-19 annual high of 935,000 in 2019. This is due to pent-up demand following Covid-19 public health restrictions over the past two years. Previous predictions for 2022 estimated a volume of 1.7m. However, for now this number has decreased due to the volume of passport renewal applications received in late 2021. The prediction for the number of passport applications in 2022 remains subject to review and the first six months of the year are still forecasted to remain very busy with most of the reduction in forecasted volume seen in the second half of the year.

In January 2022, the Passport Service received over 137,000 new passport applications. This is the highest volume of monthly applications ever received and indicates that there is pent-up demand for passports following the relaxation of necessary travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are currently 160,000 passport applications in the system. Of these, 20,000 are first time applications made within the State. While there is a very high volume of applications in the system, this does not represent a backlog. There is a continuous stream of new applications and a continuous dispatch of completed passports happening every day. Figures show that, of the total 160,000 applications in the system, 90,000 (57%) applications are fully complete and are being processed by the Passport Service. The other 70,000 (43%) applications in the system are incomplete, which means the Passport Service is waiting for the applicant to submit the necessary documentation required. While the Passport Service makes every effort to contact applicants in such circumstances, their experience is that many applicants take weeks and sometimes months to send in the necessary documents.

I strongly urge anyone who is considering travelling overseas this year, particularly families with young children, to check the validity of their passports before booking travel and to apply for their passports online in plenty of time.