Jack Wall
Question:160 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the plans, if any, he has to decentralise the passport office or to increase the number of these offices. [16161/98]
Written Answers. - Departmental Offices.
The passport express service, which was introduced jointly with An Post in 1995, enables passports to be issued quickly and conveniently through over 1,000 post offices throughout the country. Persons wishing to avail of passport express do not need to travel further than their local Garda station and one of the participating post offices displaying the An Post Service Plus logo. This service, as well as the upgrading of the Cork passport office to a full issuing office in 1995, means that the passport service is now reliable and efficient. Over 90 per cent of all applications made in the State are dealt with within ten days. Personal callers with genuinely urgent applications do not encounter long queues or delays at either the Cork or Dublin office.
I am satisfied that the passport offices in Cork and Dublin are providing a high quality of service to the public and, in these circumstances, I have no plans to decentralise the Dublin office nor to open furher regional passport offices.