Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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352. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the additional resources that his Department has provided to address the backlog of passports yet to be processed; and if there is a current backlog of postal applications to be dealt with. [4616/23]

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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353. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on the backlog of paper application passports and timelines to resolving the ongoing application delays in processing same. [4794/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 352 and 353 together.

2022 was an exceptionally busy year for the Passport Service, with over 1,085,000 passports issued. 2023 is set to be a similarly busy year. 

There are currently 56,000 fully complete applications in the Passport Service system, including 10,700 paper applications. These applications are not considered outstanding, as they are being processed in line with normal turnaround times.

In recent weeks, there has been a marked increase in applications received, signifying that the next busy season for passports is commencing. Applications have increased from an average of 1,400 per day in December to almost 5,000per day in recent weeks.

Thanks to significant investment by the Government and the dedicated work of the Passport Service staff, substantial improvements were made in 2022 and full, normal service was restored.

Over the past few months my Department has been planning to ensure that demand for passports continues to be met in 2023 with target processing times maintained throughout the year.

Adequate staffing of the Passport Service to respond to demand continues to be a priority for my Department in 2023 and is an issue that is kept under constant review.

My Department ran 15 competitions in 2021 and 2022 to address staffing needs in the Passport Service. New office space on the Balbriggan campus is now open and provides over 200 additional workstations to accommodate the increase in staff numbers.

The Department is also actively working to assign new staff to the Passport Service throughout the first quarter of the year. Approximately 100 successful candidates from a Temporary Clerical Officer competition run by the Department are currently going through the Garda Vetting process and will be assigned in the coming weeks and months.

I am confident that the staffing and accommodation measures implemented, along with other improvements, will have a positive impact on passport processing times for 2023.