Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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39. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for his assessment of issues with the current passport express process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28738/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 39 and 55 together.

The Passport Service is successfully meeting the current high demand for passports, and has issued over 510,000 passports to date in 2023. All turnaround times are at their target level, and over half of all online adult renewals issue within 2 working days. The Customer Service Hub is responding efficiently to an average of 15,000 queries per week.

These achievements are thanks to the operational and staffing plans my Department has put in place for 2023, as well as the efficiencies allowed for through Passport Online.

The Department has run 18 recruitment competitions since 2021 to address staffing needs in the Passport Service and another is currently underway. The Passport Service has scaled up the Customer Service Hub significantly over the past 18 months, and plans aim to ensure that excellent customer service is maintained during periods of peak demand.

We are currently in the busiest time of year for passports as we approach the summer holiday season. However, the Passport Service has already seen application numbers coming down in recent weeks. This suggests that most applications for the summer season have already been processed or submitted.

The high application numbers seen during the first half of the year came following an effective communications campaign run by the Department across winter/spring 2023. The campaign focused on the benefits of applying online, and encouraged citizens to check their passport in advance of booking travel.

The Passport Service continually works to enhance the service and provide further efficiencies for customers. A number of improvements were made to the Passport Online platform in April 2023. These include a customised list of the supporting documents required for first time applicants, an Eircode look-up tool to facilitate the input of postal addresses, and a new integration feature with the General Register Office. The GRO integration benefits a significant cohort of first-time child applicants, who are no longer required to submit a physical birth certificate. So far almost 16,000 birth certificates have been digitally received by the Passport Service from the GRO. These upgrades help to reduce the administrative burden for applicants. In addition, the customised list of documents aims to reduce the number of applications for which insufficient or incorrect supporting documents are submitted.

Passport Online is a multi award-winning online platform, and places the Irish Passport Service amongst the most innovative in the world. The Passport Service is pursuing a Digital First strategy and promoting Passport Online as the quickest, most convenient and least expensive channel for applicants. This has allowed for the centralisation of passport processing resulting in greater efficiencies for the Service and for customers.

I strongly encourage the Deputies to advise their constituents of the advantages of using the substantially more efficient online service, which is now used by over 90% of applicants worldwide.

Due to the nature of the paper application process, it will always be a slower service. The turnaround time for all paper applications is 8 weeks. As the Passport Service is meeting this target turnaround time successfully, there are no widespread issues which need to be addressed with the paper-based service. Given that less than 10% of applicants now use the paper service, it is not the priority service for the Passport Service in the context of strategy and resources. In recognition of this, the Passport Service and An Post rebranded the paper passport service from "Passport Express" to "Post Passport" in May of 2022.

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