Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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124. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent of the backlog in foreign birth registrations; and the steps that he is taking to address the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22995/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the reassignment of Foreign Birth Registration staff to assist in the provision of essential passport services, the Foreign Birth Registration Service was paused for nearly 15 months across the 2020-2021 period.

The resourcing of the Passport Service to respond to current demand for passports and Foreign Birth Registration is a priority for my Department, which has been working with the Public Appointments Service on a major recruitment drive. Since June 2021, over 300 members of staff at all grades have been assigned to the Passport Service.

In addition to this, and to complement staffing recruitment through the Public Appointments Service, the Passport Service is running its own recruitment competition for Temporary Clerical Officers with a view to assigning additional staff and to maintain staffing levels throughout the year to meet the demand expected in the coming months. This competition is currently underway and once completed, will see staffing numbers of over 900 at the Passport Service, which represents a doubling of staff numbers since last summer.  Staffing levels will be maintained right throughout the year with priority given to FBR processing once the current high demand for passports reduces. 

There are currently 36,000 applications awaiting processing. In 2021, over 7,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications were processed and a further 4,454 have been processed so far this year.  Foreign Birth Registration staff have continually provided an emergency service for Foreign Birth Registration in cases of exceptional urgency, such as expectant parents, or stateless persons. Applicants who require an emergency service may contact the Passport Service directly.

My Department is fully committed to the allocation of additional resources to assist with the processing of the Foreign Birth Registration applications currently on hand and the high volume of new applications anticipated this year. I am confident that the additional staff being assigned to the Passport Service will help to reduce turnaround times for Foreign Birth Registration this year.