Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 September 2014
1218. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason additional charges by way of administration fees for passports are applied in addition to the standard passport charges; the reason the additional charges amount to an effective surcharge of 56% on the cost of a child’s passport; if these additional charges can be avoided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34799/14]
View answerApplications submitted through the public counters incur an additional fee of €15, which is €5.50 more expensive than those applications submitted through Passport Express, allowing for the Post Office charge of €9.50. The new fee was brought into effect by the Statutory Instrument 47 of 2011, which was advertised in the national press before its implementation on 11 April 2011. The difference in the fees charged is designed to encourage people to submit their applications through the Passport Express Service. The logging of the application by the Post Office enables the Passport Service to provide a much more efficient service of registration, tracking and production than applications submitted through the public counter. However, it is ultimately the choice of the customer which service they select.
