Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 68, 84, 85 and 86 together.

The Passport Service is successfully meeting high demand for passports and has issued over 400,000 passports this year to date.

Adequate staffing of the Passport Service to respond to demand continues to be a priority for the Department in 2024 and is an issue that is kept under constant review.

Demand for passports fluctuates year on year depending on a wide range of factors. In 2022, the Passport Service received an unprecedented number of passport applications following two years of pandemic-related travel restrictions. During that time, my Department put in place a staffing plan to meet the exceptional level of demand experienced. In 2022, for the first time in the history of the State, the Passport Service issued over 1 million passports and also succeeded in reducing the processing times for first time applicants by 50% from 40 to 20 working days.

My Department undertakes extensive advance workforce planning based on forecasted demand for passports on an annual basis. The staff requirement to meet forecasted demand for the coming year is signed off annually by the Department's Management Board. As a result of this planning the Passport Service is well-resourced to meet forecasted demand for 2024.

My Department is implementing this year's staffing plan to ensure that excellent customer service is maintained throughout periods of peak demand and is continuing to work to increase resources within the service. Table 1 below outlines the annual number of staff by grade and location from 2019 to present. The 2024 figure is correct as of 31 March 2024. The Passport Service has also assigned an additional 40 Temporary Clerical Officers to its offices in Balbriggan and Dublin 2 in April 2024. Thus the current total number of staff with the Passport Service is 840, which means that staffing levels are at 98% of the staffing target for 2024.

The payroll costs incurred by the Department in relation to staffing in the Passport Service for the years 2020 to 31 March 2024 are outlined in Table 2 below.

With regard to the Deputy's question relating to the costs associated with increasing staffing levels by 10, 50 and 100 WTE, the costs are outlined in Table 3 below. These costs are based on the salary costs associated with a Clerical Officer on the mid-point of the scale and include the employer's PRSI contribution costs. Clerical Officers currently make up 55% of the Passport Service overall staff. These costs do not include additional costs that would be incurred by an increase in staff including accommodation, utilities and equipment costs.

2024 is expected to be another busy year for the Passport Service and the Passport Service is in an excellent position to meet the demand forecasted for this year.

Table 1 - Passport Service Staff by Grade and Location 2019-Present

Grade	31 Dec 2019			31 Dec 2020			31 Dec 2021			31 Dec 2022			31 Dec 2023			31 March 2024
	PPOM*	PPOB*	PPOC*	PPOM	PPOB	PPOC	PPOM	PPOB	PPOC	PPOM	PPOB	PPOC	PPOM	PPOB	PPOC	PPOM	PPOB	PPOC
PO & Equiv	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0
AP & Equiv	6	2	1	6	1	1	7	2	2	7	2	2	7	3	2	6	3	2
AO & Equiv	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0
HEO	12	7	3	13	7	3	11	7	3	18	8	2	22	10	2	21	10	2
EO	34	28	18	28	31	17	32	30	18	33	27	17	39	50	19	37	50	18
CO	121	173	86	109	164	85	120	152	79	114	161	79	126	237	81	127	255	84
SVO	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0
TCO	0	0	0	0	0	0	40	89	19	81	170	15	65	104	21	61	93	26
Total	176	213	108	158	204	106	215	281	121	258	369	115	262	405	125	256	412	132

* PPOM = Passport Office Mount St/PPOB = Passport Office Balbriggan/PPOC = Passport Office Cork

Table 2 – Payroll Costs for Passport Service

Year	Amount
2020	€19,882,953
2021	€18,508,734
2022	€28,726,609
2023	€30,869,253
2024 (to 31 March)	€8,095,909

Table 3 – Estimated Salary & PRSI Costs of Additional Clerical Officers

Number of additional Clerical Officers	Salary & PRSI Costs
10	€412,969
50	€2,064,846
100	€4,129,692

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Passport Service has issued over 400,000 passports to date this year. The majority of online adult renewal applications issue within two working days and over 90% of applicants now apply online.

The Passport Online service offers Irish citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a user-friendly, efficient service that consistently offers processing times up to 4 times faster than paper-based passport renewal applications. Passport Online is now available to 99.9% of all applicants across the world.

The number of passports applications received, by month from 2022 to date are outlined below in tabular form.

Passport Applications Received 2022

Month	Applications Received
Jan-22	135,777
Feb-22	154,741
Mar-22	124,090
Apr-22	128,144
May-22	144,810
Jun-22	100,624
Jul-22	75,343
Aug-22	71,741
Sep-22	62,949
Oct-22	57,783
Nov-22	57,296
Dec-22	44,692
Total	1,157,990

Passport Applications Received 2023

Month	Applications Received
Jan-23	146,768
Feb-23	114,557
Mar-23	113,799
Apr-23	111,066
May-23	104,394
Jun-23	85,790
Jul-23	77,697
Aug-23	68,806
Sep-23	58,535
Oct-23	57,288
Nov-23	55,289
Dec-23	42,723
Total	1,036,712

Passport Applications Received 2024

Month	Applications Received
Jan-24	132,160
Feb-24	117,914
Mar-24	108,584
01/04/2024 to 26/04/2024	95,017
Total	453,675