Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will issue to a person (details supplied); the reason for the delay in issuing this passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44112/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the required supporting documents were received from the applicant on 4 October 2023. The turnaround time following receipt of additional documents is 15 working days. This application is within the turnaround time and has not yet reached its issue-by date.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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17. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a passport will issue to a person (details supplied); the reason for the delay in issuing this passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44113/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the supporting documents were received from the applicant on 27 September 2023. The turnaround time following receipt of additional documents is 15 working days. This application is within the turnaround time and has not yet reached its issue-by date.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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18. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason applications for passports where additional documentation is requested and fully supplied cannot be finalised within a week of the supply of this information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44114/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The peak busy season for passports in 2023, has now passed and demand forecasts indicate that the Passport Service will issue around 1 million passports this year.

The Passport Service is successfully meeting high demand for passports and has issued over 815,000 passports to date in 2023. Between 2,000 and 3,500 passports are being issued every day. All turnaround times are at their target level and there are no backlogs. The Passport Service Customer Service Hub is responding to an average of 10,000 queries per week on phones and webchat.

All passport applications require supporting documentation to some degree, whether it is a photo uploaded online for an adult's renewal application, or documents necessary to validate the identity and entitlement to Irish citizenship of a first time applicant. In the cases of children's applications, witnessed identity and consent forms are required to ensure that guardians have consented to the issuance of a passport for the child.

In cases where insufficient or incorrect documents are received by the Passport Service, every effort is made to let the applicant know as soon as possible. It is currently not possible for the Passport Service to address issues with applications earlier in the process due to the volume of applications that are being received. Applications enter a queue and are checked in order of date received.

The turnaround times outlined on my Department's website apply to fully complete and correct applications, and that they are estimates based on current average processing times. Applications that are incomplete or incorrect will take longer.

The current passport processing times are: :

• Online simple adult renewal - 10 working days
• Online child/complex adult renewal - 15 working days
• Online first time application, adult or child - 20 working days
• Post Passport via An Post, adult or child - 8 weeks

In cases of genuine emergency, applicants can contact the dedicated Travel emergency team that work to expedite passport applications in cases such as a need for urgent medical treatment overseas or the death of a family member abroad. Travel Emergency can be contacted through the Customer Service Hub.

For applicants resident in Ireland, the Passport Service offers an Urgent Appointment Service whereby applicants who need to renew their passport urgently can book an appointment at either the Dublin or Cork passport offices. The Dublin passport office can issue a passport within 1 or 4 days, while the Cork passport office can issue a passport in 4 days. Applicants who have already submitted an application but find that they need to travel urgently while it is being processed can make an appointment through the Urgent Appointment Service and their original application will be cancelled once their passport is issued.

Over the past 18 months, the Passport Service has been actively working to reduce the number of original documents required for a passport application, and very positive changes have been introduced in this regard.

• Parents are no longer required to submit their original Irish passport for a child's application, as photocopies are accepted.
• Certified copies are now accepted for Naturalisation certificates and Foreign Birth Registration certificates, meaning these original documents also no longer need to be submitted.
• Applicants applying on the basis of Naturalisation or Foreign Birth Registration are no longer required to submit their original passport from their country of origin, provided they can submit another form of government issued photographic identification, such as a certified copy of their driver's licence or a copy of their Public Services Card.
• Since April this year, thanks to an integration with the General Register Office (GRO), a significant cohort of first time applicants born in Ireland no longer need to submit their original birth certificate once they apply online for their passport. Since then over 35,000 birth records have been retrieved digitally.

In recent weeks, the Passport Service rolled out Passport Online for first time applicants to an additional 35 countries, including Turkey, Argentina and Iraq. This means that Passport Online can now be used by 99.9% of all passport applicants worldwide.

The Passport Service continues to be in an excellent position to meet the demand forecast for the remainder of this year. I would ask the Deputy to encourage your constituents to apply online for the quickest, cheapest and most efficient service.