Vol. 373 No. 8
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself that adequate staff are assigned to deal with passport applications; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that applicants are expected to queue for many hours to obtain passports; the action if any, he intends to take to remedy this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
44.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the action, if any, he proposes to take to alleviate the extraordinarily long queues at the Passport Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 33 and 44 together.
I am personally very keenly aware of the queues outside the Passport Office and I am having the operation of that office kept under continuous daily review. To alleviate the queues and to shorten in so far as is possible the length of time people have to spend in these queues I have had the following measures taken: (a) The staff have been increased from a base of 25 permanent staff to 110 at present; (b) a new phone system is being introduced this week to deal with phone queries; (c) the actual queues themselves are being managed in such a way that applicants who wish to leave in forms or collect completed passports do not have to queue with those who wish to pursue their applications that day.
As I told the House last week the Passport Office is facing a 20 per cent increase in applications this year so far. I would again appeal to members of the public who plan to go abroad on holidays this year to apply in good time and by post. Such applications will be dealt with within ten to 14 days of receipt. Application forms can be got at any Garda station.
