David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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21. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to outline the current situation with respect to the printing of passports in the Cork Passport Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27427/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Passport Online service offers citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This award-winning service has allowed for the centralisation of passport processing and has resulted in greater efficiencies for our citizens and for the Passport Service. Passport Online is a user-friendly, efficient service that is currently issuing the vast majority of adult renewal passports within 2 to 4 days.

95% of all passport applications are now made through Passport Online which is available to 99.9% of all applicants globally.

The Passport Offices in Dublin 2 and in Cork operate a four day Urgent Appointment service for renewal applications. The Cork office offers over 1,000 four day appointments per month. Throughout this year, an average of only 29% of appointments available in Cork were booked.

The Dublin office also offers a one-day Urgent Appointment service. However, this year only 0.7% of all passport applicants availed of this one-day service.

The Cork office does not currently have a passport printer. The Passport Service estimates the initial capital cost of purchasing and installing a new printer and mailing machine in Cork to be approximately €6 million. In addition to the capital investment, the annual cost of running and maintaining these machines in Cork is estimated to be €600,000 per year.

For these reasons, the Department would need to seriously consider whether a business case can be made to invest this level of funds to facilitate the very small proportion of applicants who wish to have their passport renewed within one day in Cork.

I am satisfied that the current Passport Online service and production capacity meets the needs of passport applicants. The Passport Service will continue to consider ways in which to enhance this essential citizen service.