Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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547. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of complaints that he has received from persons under the customer service charter for his Department in respect of passport services in the past five years to date in 2022; the number of complaints that he has engaged with the Ombudsman in respect of complaints made by persons regarding the operation of the passport service in the past five years to date in 2022; and if the Ombudsman has directed him to improve service delivery regarding passports in 2022. [34490/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Passport Service has a formal comments and complaints procedure in place to allow customers an opportunity to give feedback on the quality of the service they receive.

The Passport Service is committed to providing a high quality, effective service to all of our customers and welcomes feedback on how the service can be improved. All feedback is dealt with in confidence and in an impartial manner.

Customers can submit a complaint in writing to: Passport Complaints, Knockmaun House, 42-47, Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2, D02 TN83.

The Passport Service aims to resolve complaints as promptly as possible. Each complaint is examined upon receipt and acknowledged. The complaint will then be investigated and a response issued in writing.

If customers remain unhappy with the response, they can refer their complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman.  The Passport Service has engaged with the Ombudsman's office to ensure that an effective procedure is in place for such complaints so that they are dealt with effectively and efficiently.  The Ombudsman did not direct the Passport Service to improve service delivery regarding passports in 2022. During engagement with the Passport Service, the Ombudsman made some suggestions which the Passport Service has taken into consideration. 

Further details of the Passport Service complaints procedure can be found on the DFA website - www.dfa.ie/about-us/our-commitments/passport-complaints-and-appeals/.

The number of formal complaints received by the Passport Service and those raised with the Ombudsman in each of the past five years and to date in 2022 are outlined below in tabular form. This table also provides the number of applications received by the Passport Service in those years.