Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to consider providing same-day-turnaround services through the Cork passport office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40595/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Passport Online service allows citizens to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Passport Online is an award-winning, user-friendly, efficient service that consistently offers processing times up to four times faster than paper-based passport renewal applications.

Over 90% of passport applications are made through Passport Online, which is available to 99.9% of all applicants globally.

The Passport Service operates three passport book printing machines: two are located in the main production facility at the Balbriggan campus and the third in the Dublin 2 Passport Office. The printing and dispatch of passports is a highly automated process in what is, essentially, an industrial production system.

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.

With only 0.7% of all applicants availing of the one-day Urgent Appointment service available in Dublin 2, serious consideration would need to be given to investing this level of funds to facilitate the very small proportion of applicants who wish to have their passport renewed within one day in Cork.

The public offices of the Passport Service in Cork, and Dublin 2, operate a four-day Urgent Appointment service for renewal applications. There are 224 urgent appointments available , on average, in Cork each week. In 2024 (to date), 31.9% of appointments in Cork have been booked.

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.