Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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415. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress that has been made in relation to the processing of Irish passports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39180/22]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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424. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff recruited to the Passport Office each month to date in 2022; the number of passport applications for each type of passport processed each month in 2022; the average waiting time for processing each type of passport application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39506/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 415 and 424 together.

The Passport Service is already out-performing any previous year, despite the challenges that it has encountered over the past two years. Over 720,000 passports have been issued to date in 2022, compared to 634,000 in the whole of last year.

The Passport Service continues to outperform its previous busiest year, 2019, by over 20%.

The Passport Service is continually working to deliver enhanced customer experience and service delivery to our citizens. This year the Passport Service is experiencing an unprecedented volume of demand for passports. This is as a direct result of pent-up demand for travel after two years of pandemic-related restrictions.

This level of demand is not unique to Ireland. In countries such as the UK and United States, the turnaround time for all types of passports can be up to 10 weeks. The Passport Service has decreased the processing times for first time online applications by 40% since March. Processing time for first time online applications now takes 25 working days, down from 40 working days in March. In addition, almost half of adult online renewals are processed within 2 days. The Passport Service is performing at its highest capacity ever and is producing an average of almost 6,000 passports per day.

The current processing times are:

- Online adult renewal - 10 working days

- Online child/complex renewal - 15 working days

- Online first time application - 25 working days (from 6 June)

- An Post Passport Service - 8 weeks

In order to achieve these type of results and to continue to improve the service, my Department has made an unprecedented investment in the Passport Service. In terms of staffing, over 570 staff have been assigned to the Passport Service since June of last year, including 200 since May 2022. The addition of these staff has allowed the Passport Service to maintain its current turnaround times in the face of enormous levels of demand.

In addition to significantly more staff being assigned, the Passport Service has made important improvements as follows that will help to ensure that passport applications can be processed within turnaround times:

- A large number of the new staff have been assigned to the Customer Service Hub. This has greatly increased the number of calls and webchats being answered and is assisting with customers getting access to the information they need. In recent weeks, the number of calls handled by the Hub has risen to over 2,000 per day.

- In May the Passport Service released two online video guides that provide tips to ensure that passport photos and witnessed consent forms for children are correctly submitted. Passport photos and witnessed consent forms are some of the main reasons that an application may be rejected, so it is important the customers have all the information they need to ensure that these are submitted correctly. These easy-to-follow video guides are available on my Department's website and social media channels and I encourage all applicants to watch them before they submit their application.

- The Passport Service has worked with An Garda Síochána to develop a system for verifying Garda witnesses on passport applications in cases where the Garda signature cannot be verified. This system assists in reducing the number of applications that are delayed due to a failure to verify witness details.

- Intensive training of new staff and upskilling of existing staff has been underway for several months to increase the resources that can process complex applications, such as first time child applications.

- Passport Online is continuing to expand and is now available to 97% of our citizens around the world. Most recently, Passport Online has been rolled out to first time applicants in the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar. The availability of Passport Online worldwide will continue to enhance customer experience and will mean even more efficiencies for the Passport Service.

I encourage all citizens to check their passports before booking any travel and to apply online and on time.

The information requested by Deputy Whitmore is outlined below in tabular form:

The number of Passport Service staff recruited in each month to date in 2022:

Number of passports issued broken down by application type, for each month January-June 2022: