Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service requested further documents for the application on 17 May 2024. The application cannot proceed until the required supporting documents have been received.

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

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Passport Service has issued almost half a million passports to date in 2024, and the Customer Service Hub has responded to over 200,000 queries this year. Virtually all complete passport applications are being processed within advertised turnaround times.

Online applications for which new photos are requested are processed within a maximum of 10 working days of the receipt of the new photo.

The Passport Service has public education materials, including video tutorials on taking a passport photo and detailed instructions on the application process, available online, at www.ireland.ie/passportsphotos. These materials are regularly communicated to citizens via our social media channels.

Additionally, should assistance be required with an application, our Customer Service agents are available through phone and webchat services from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. They can be contacted at +353 1 671 1633, or via the WebChat service: www.ireland.ie/contactpassportservice

There are a variety of reasons why an applicant may be require a submit new photo's for their passport application. For online applications new photos, if required, are submitted via a link that is emailed to the applicant. This could, for example occur where the parent of a child requests a new consent link because their original link expired. New photos can also be requested by the Passport Service where they do not meet the requirement for a passport.

The total numbers of links sent by the Passport Service in 2023 and to date in 2024 are outlined below in tabular form. The number of requests for photo resubmissions in 2023 represents 10% of the 954,627 total passports that were issued by the Passport Service last year. It is not possible to break these figures down by those requested by the applicant or those sent by the Passport Service when requesting a new photo from the applicant.