Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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405. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 84 of 23 March 2022, if the requested data on the outstanding passport applications will be provided. [17654/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is outlined below in tabular form. This information has also been sent to the Deputy by email.

Passport applications submitted 

Registration Date (as of 20 March 2022)

The number of complete passport applications that are with the Passport Service for six months or more represents 0.01% of the total number of applications in the system. In the majority of cases, applicants may have applied online six months ago, but it may have taken several weeks and often even months for the applicants to submit the supporting documents that are required to complete the application. The Passport Service cannot process applications until they are fully complete. However, once they are fully complete, they are processed within the normal processing times.

There are a small number of very complex or sensitive cases that may involve citizenship, guardianship or legal issues. These require very thorough examination by experienced staff and can take longer to process.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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406. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of full-time fraud experts working in the Passport Office in each of the past three years; and the grade of staff that this staff member is normally assigned. [17711/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service takes its responsibility to protect the integrity of the Irish passport very seriously.  The Irish passport has a strong international reputation due to the strength of the security features within the passport book and the robust processes involved in its issuance. The Irish passport was recently ranked 5th in the Henley Global Passport Index as it provides our citizens with visa-free access to 187 countries.

The Integrity Unit of the Passport Service was established in 2015 to improve all aspects of passport fraud detection and prevention. Significant resources have been invested in the Integrity Section with an increase in staff numbers and new and improved systems being put in place. A considerable investment in technology and structures has helped to improve the detection and recording of instances of fraud. These resources, along with new procedures introduced by the Passport Service, have prevented fraudulent applications from being submitted and have closed down avenues of access previously used by fraudulent applicants.

The Integrity Unit has been staffed by an average of 22 officers in the grades of Clerical Officer, Executive Officer, Higher Executive Officer and Assistant Principal over the period of March 2019 to March 2022. All officers in the Integrity Unit receive training in various types of fraud relevant to fraudulent passport applications. This training is conducted by in-house experienced officers and complimented by additional training from external experts.  Some officers concentrate on particular areas within the unit and become very proficient at uncovering certain types of fraud, which is of significant benefit to the work of the unit. In addition, Integrity Unit staff can be assigned to this critical area because of the expertise or experience they bring to their role.