James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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209. 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. [21490/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has provided an update on the status of the passport application to the applicant's parent.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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210. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he plans to allow additional post offices within the UK to accept paper-based Irish passport applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21491/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service provides a range of channels to Irish citizens worldwide who wish to apply for a passport. These include a postal application system, online passport application service, in person counter application facilities at the passport offices in Dublin, Cork and London, and the network of Irish Missions worldwide.

Passport Online is the priority channel for applications as there are many efficiencies built into the system for both the applicant and the Passport Service. Passport Online can be accessed by all first time applicants, both children and adults, in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, South Africa, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mauritius, Lesotho, Colombia, Panama, Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

All Irish citizens, including children, can use the online system to renew their passports from anywhere in the world. The Passport Online service offers Irish citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a user-friendly, efficient service that consistently offers processing times up to 4 times faster than paper-based passport renewal applications. Currently, more than 90% of passport applications from Ireland and overseas are received through the passport online service. This is an increase from 47% in 2019.

The Passport Service is committed to continue to offer a range of application channels, including an offline service for citizens who are not eligible or do not wish to use the Passport Online service. The paper-based, mail-in "Passport Express" service is available to citizens applying from the United Kingdom at over 70 post office locations in Northern Ireland and at two post office locations in Great Britain, in Glasgow and Liverpool respectively. The turnaround time for this service is 8 weeks. The application form required for a Passport Express application (APS2 form) can be picked up from over 70 post office locations in Northern Ireland, 100 post office locations in Great Britain, from Irish centres in Great Britain or from the Embassy of Ireland in London. The Embassy can also post APS2 forms to applicants on request.

Details on how to apply using the Passport Express service from Northern Ireland or Great Britain can be found on my Department’s website (www.dfa.ie/passports/passport-express/). 

I am satisfied that the service provided through Passport Express is enough to meet current and future demand for paper-based passport applications in the United Kingdom. While there are no current plans to enable passport applications to be accepted at additional UK post offices, the Passport Service will continue to consider ways in which to enhance customer experience for citizens worldwide.

 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 .

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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211. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress to date in the processing of a passport application in the case of a person (details supplied); if further documentation remains outstanding in this case; when the mother’s passport will be returned given that both passports are required at an early date; when the passport for the minor will be issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21532/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has contacted the applicant's parent in relation to the application. The Passport Service has returned the mother's passport.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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212. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [21534/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has provided an update to the applicant as to the steps they must take to progress their passport application.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a passport renewal for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21565/22]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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215. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if a passport will be ready on time for a child to travel with their family (details supplied) in view of the fact that this application has been with the Passport Office since 16 January 2022 and that passports have issued to the siblings of the child. [21628/22]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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217. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on passport applications by persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21659/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 213, 215 and 217 together.

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

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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214. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to an issue (details supplied) in relation to some applications for the passport card; the number of applications that were impacted by the issue; and if applicants impacted are being advised to submit a new application while waiting to be refunded. [21572/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service receives approximately 5,000 passport applications daily. On rare occasions, an application may encounter an error while information is being transferred from the external website to our internal systems. The Passport Service has a process in place to identify these applications within 24 hours of the applications being made and a refund is usually issued within 3 working days. The Passport Service encourages applicants who experience this technical error to re-apply for their passport with a new application, in the knowledge that a refund will issue in due course for the first application.

They can also contact the Passport Service Customer Service team via phone on 01.671.1633 or webchat on my Department’s website (www.dfa.ie/passports/contact/).

The Passport Service will contact the applicant referenced to confirm that a refund has issued. The Passport Service regrets any inconvenience caused to applicants who have encountered this error.