Almost 350,000 passports have been issued so far this year, while people have been urged to get their passports organised “well in advance of holidays or foreign travel”, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
Mr Martin told the Dáil on Thursday just under 1.1 million passports were expected to be issued in 2023 and that there were no application backlogs while turnaround times were at their target level.
Mr Martin, who is also the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, said the Passport Service’s customer hub was currently responding to an average of 3,000 queries a day but that turnaround times had been “exceptional” to date this year.
The Fianna Fáil leader said staffing and recruitment remained a priority over the coming months for the Passport Service. Responding to questions from Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy, Mr Martin said there were now 814 staff assigned to the service, a “significant expansion on recent times”.
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About 100 temporary clerical officers had been assigned to the service since January 2023 as well as more than 90 permanent staff, he said.
Mr Carthy acknowledged there had been an improvement in turnaround times after people lost the “opportunity to either go on holiday or to attend an important event” due to delays with the service last year.
Urgent appointment
The Cavan-Monaghan TD said there was an effective and efficient process for simple renewals, but raised issues around the process for first-time applications for children.
“When new and additional information is sought or there is a query on the information, it is effectively put back to the end of the queue and the entire process starts again,” he said.
Mr Martin said the Passport Service offered an in-person urgent appointment service for passport renewal at its offices in Dublin and Cork.
“Due to the complex nature of first-time applications it is not possible to process these at an urgent appointment,” he said.
“The Passport Service has a dedicated team who expedite applications in cases of medical emergency or the death of a family member abroad, including for first-time applicants.”
The Tánaiste also said there were a number of measures now in place to ensure that passport applicants completed their applications correctly.
“A recent upgrade to the passport online platform provides first-time applicants with a bespoke list of the documents they need to submit, customised for the applicants’ specific circumstances,” he said.
“The Passport Service offers video guides to assist citizens in submitting the correct photos and consent forms for children’s applications.”
